One Night Changed It All
by WalkersMadHouse
Summary: Morrigan Shepard has never been with anyone. Never. So what happens in the coming days before leaving on the SR-1 for Eden Prime she meets James Vega? How will it affect her career? Find out! Rated M for Swearing, Violence, and Mature Situations
1. The Meeting

**Hello everyone! I have decided to try my own hand at writting a story for Mass Effect. I played through the triology about three times within the last few months (I suddenly kept playing and playing) and i decided I liked the idea of a Female Shepard / James pairing so I decided to write about it. Please know I'm not heavily invested in the lore, especially outside of the games. So things like Paragon Lost, and others I have no knowledge of. Also I didn't buy much of the DLC (I do intend to at some point) So i will not address those. This story takes place JUST BEFORE Mass Effect 1.**

 **Morrigan Shepard:**

 **Spacer, Warhero, Infiltrator, Paragon (some Renegade actions)**

 **Note 1: To my knowledge there is no stated age of James, so I'm assuming that since he, according to Mass Effect: Homeworlds, enlisted in 2176, he is at the age of 18 (since it's the normal age of enlistment to my knowledge), making him roughly 28 during the events of ME3,**

 **Note 2: Purgatory isn't mentioned (or at least I don't recall it being mentioned) in Mass Effect 1  & 2, but I'm assuming it's always been there. Simply that it wasn't a point of Interest for Shepard in ME 1 & 2.**

 ** _Rated M: Cursing, Violence, Mature Situations_**

* * *

 _ **One Night Changed It All**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: The Meeting**_

"Hey Morrigan, what you will be getting tonight?" A young woman asked the female in front of her who wore a black N7 hoodie.

The woman in question, shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I'll just settle on Whiskey tonight. I have to report to Captain Anderson at 0600."

"Come on Shepard, loosen up. You've barely loosen up anymore since Elysium."

"There's a reason for that, Tanya." Morrigan glared. It had been quite some time since the invasion of Elysium. It had been a long hard battle and a lot of good people had lost her lives. She knew she couldn't save everyone that day, but it didn't make it any easier. She lost good men, men she quite respected. Some she would even call a good friend. The breaking point for her when was when one of her friends sold her and the colonist out to the invading force. Safe to say, Morrigan made sure he didn't live to regret his decision.

"Sorry. I know it's a touchy subject." Tanya frowned before she shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable. The seats in Purgatory on the Citadel were hardly comfortable despite how many people came here. "You know you can't just close yourself off to the galaxy after that. At least find a man to take home; hell, I don't think I've ever seen you take a man home."

Morrigan sighed as she put her head into her hands. She cared very much for Tanya, having been given a commendation for N7 just as she did. She meant a lot to her, but she sometimes tried to butt into her non-existent love life.

Shepard's mother and father were both Alliance marines, the ranks at the time, she couldn't remember, though she heard her mother was recently being looked at into being promoted to Admiral. Her father died while he was young. She never learned how or why. She never questioned it. She learned early on that death was a part of a marine's life style. Not that she and her mother didn't grieve, but she was too young at the time to really have the feeling of loss hit her.

After the death of her father, it became apparent that her life would be erratic at best. Never always having one of her parents watch over her while the other was on an assignment. Her mother couldn't afford to leave the Alliance to raise her properly, there was no way she could with the credits she made; so she was taken along for the ride.

It wasn't all bad if someone asked her, at a young age she quickly found herself mesmerized by big starships, weapons, armor, and everything in between. Though what really clicked with her was her desire to find her way around things, be it by hacking or sneaking into places she wasn't allowed to be in. She was rarely caught and she even caused her mother to laugh once. 'Just like your father,' she once said, and it brought a smile to her lips.

However, there was two prominent things that she didn't like growing up with her mother on starships. The primary reason was that no one wanted to befriend her. She was the child of important Alliance marines. No boy would approach her in fear of her mother; not that she minded. She held no interest in the opposite sex, even as she entered into her teenage years. The secondary thing she disliked about life on starship with her mother was that despite her attempts to hide it, she missed having a father. That's where David Anderson came in. He knew her parents and apparently her own mother was able to see her distress at lacking a father-figure in her life and Anderson willingly took up the mantle, always yearning for a daughter of his own but couldn't have one, given his own lifestyle.

She and Anderson clicked immediately and by the time she was old enough to enlist, many higher-ups almost believed Morrigan was in fact the daughter of Hannah Shepard and David Anderson. She remembered frowning at their ignorance, but she admitted it was nice to have a father of sorts. He had helped her into the Alliance enlistments and she passed all her initial test with flying colors; no thanks in large part to Anderson helping her prepare. To her mother's horror, Morrigan found her preference to do ground deployments with the grunts. She enjoyed the hands-on approach. The day her mother found that out she chewed her out for her decision; wanting her to take a position on a starship so she wouldn't actively face danger in the field. Thankfully, Anderson backed her up in facing her mother. The argument ended and from that day on Morrigan hardly spoke to her mother and saw her even less.

Anderson was her only family anymore. She loved her mother deeply yes, but she wasn't going to associate herself with her if she kept disagreeing with her choice of work; especially if every conversation she ever had from there-on ended in a heated argument that ended with one of them storming out.

Skipping ahead into the future, she was quickly becoming a rising star in the Alliance as the "perfect" Alliance soldier. No significant failure of missions. No critical losses. Looked out for the innocent. Cared for her team. She felt the last part wasn't entirely true. It was a flaw in her from the very beginning due to her isolation. She didn't interact well with others. She could work in a team and some might add, she worked quite well with some, but she never really bothered to get to know her squad mates on a more personal level. It didn't help that most of the time, her squad mates were men who kept staring lustfully at her.

"Hey! Citadel to Morrigan Shepard!" Tanya hollered over the music, snapping her fingers in front of Morrigan's face, bringing her out of her reminiscence.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Morrigan mumbled as she tried to recollect what her conversation with Tanya was.

"God Morrigan, you need a man in your life; if nothing else, it's for a good lay at night."

"I told you, I'm not interested in men." Morrigan stated darkly. Inwardly that was quite the opposite. She was very much interested in the opposite sex now, though she never wanted to associate with those who only wanted her for her looks or title. If she were to have a man, she'd rather have one that would stick around for more than a night. It was a childish dream, she knew that, but she could hope. Worse case for her, she'd retire then find a man. She made good enough credits as it was to retire somewhat early.

"Then let's find you a woman, I've always wanted to get in on some of that action." Tanya suggested with a lustful smirk.

Morrigan rolled her eyes in disbelief. Tanya seemed to sleep around a lot, though Shepard understood the reason. Being an N7 placed an immense amount of stress on your shoulders and it was common knowledge that sex was an effective stress reliever. It intrigued her though to find her friend was interested in women as well. "I'm not interested in women either, Tanya. Could you please stop trying to find me a fuck buddy for the night?"

Tanya pouted before she put her hands in her somewhat short brown hair before pulling it slightly in frustration. A thought came to her head as she looked back at Shepard with a smirk. "How about me?"

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at that, "What about you?"

"Would you want to do it with me? We've known each other for a while. It will only be sex."

Morrigan's eyes widened at the proposition. _'Is she really that desperate to find me a lay that she'd offer to have sex with me herself?'_ Morrigan thought in disbelief of her friend. She wouldn't deny that Tanya was very attractive. In her opinion she was more attractive than herself, her only lacking feature was her lack of breast size compared to Morrigan's who had filled out nicely during her adolescent years. "No."

Tanya's eyes narrowed at anger and frustration at the short answer she was given. "You are impossible Morrigan. You'll never find someone with that attitude!"

Morrigan almost felt hurt at the tone Tanya took with her. "Sorry Tanya, I'm not looking for a quick lay and leaving it at that. I know it's childish but I'd rather find someone who I could have a steady relationship with."

Tanya snorted at the retort Morrigan gave her. "The only steady relationship you could have would have to take place on your ship and you'd be breaking regulations since you're in the chain of command now, _Commander_. I doubt any other man…woman…whatever you're into, will be willing to have a long distance relationship while you're off on your missions."

"My mother and father…my real father, did just fine." Morrigan shrugged, she was getting agitated now. She just wanted to casually drink and go to bed before reporting for her new assignment in the morning.

"And look what happened to them." Tanya blurted out before she realized what she said and covered her mouth in a mixture of shock and regret.

Morrigan gaze became cold and rage filled as she took her still full glass of Whiskey and chucked it at Tanya's face; spilling it all over her face and soaking the collar of her BDUs. "Get the fuck out of my sight and don't talk to me again." Morrigan glared as she stood up from the table and stormed off, leaving her long time closest-to-best-friend, almost breaking down in her regret. _'That's one more 'best friend' off my list. At this rate I'll only have one time acquaintances.'_ Morrigan mused angrily with herself as she went farther into Purgatory to the Lower Bar area, deciding to hang around with some Alliance grunts, half hoping they wouldn't recognize her.

"What can I get you?" the Asari bartender asked as she saw Morrigan walk up.

"Something strong, but won't leave me completely hung over in the morning." Morrigan responded with a grunt. She already wanted to forget about tonight, her anger at Tanya not even finish building up. For now she just wanted to drink in peace.

"Hey there, you all alone?"

Morrigan turned her gaze from the table she just sat herself at to see a man of average height and really blonde hair standing before her, looking down at her. _'Private, looks green. Just enlisted or just finished training and hasn't had any real assignment.'_ Morrigan assessed inside her head as she gazed the young man up and down. He was far younger than her. Barely looked like he was 20. The whole age difference wasn't much of a problem for her, but she was hitting her…29 birthday now? She couldn't quite remember anymore. She lost track of time. Regardless an almost 9 year age difference somewhat bothered her. Though what completely turned her off to the man was the smug way he held himself.

"Yes and I like it that way." Morrigan grunted her reply, waving off the man.

The young Alliance soldier didn't falter, instead Morrigan's attitude only seamed to spur him on. "Don't be like that, how about we go do something fun?"

"I said I want to be alone. Fuck off." Morrigan stated, her anger beginning to show as she clutch her drink angrily. This might be the second drink she threw at someone. Such a waste of alcohol.

The young marine's smug face broke into a look of anger at being rejected at the beautiful woman before him. Behind him some of his fellow privates were laughing at his rejection and that only stoked his anger as he reached out to grab Morrigan's arm. "Now listen here you bit-" The man was cut off by a muscular arm stopping him.

"She said she's not interested, _pandejo_. Now leave the lady alone." A muscular man wearing a gray Alliance T-shirt with his BDU trouser and boots clenched the young marines hand tightly.

The marine glared at the massive hulk of muscle. "Oh fuck off Vega, are you really going to defend this bitch?"

Morrigan looked on in interest as the hulk of muscle who was now identified by Vega, his last name she figured, loosened his grip on the young marine's arm, allowing him to jerk it free. "Just because Captain Toni let you join our squad doesn't let you treat women without respect. She clearly wasn't interested and you kept pressing her. Now I suggest you back off, _private_." Vega threatened the young soldier with an intense gaze that impressed Morrigan as she took a quick drink of her alcohol.

"As if you can pull rank, to-be _Lieutenant_. We're on shore leave and if you hadn't notice, there's more of us than there are of you." The marine snarled as some his friends walked up behind him, some staying back as they knew what Vega could do.

Vega gave a sigh as he could see how this was going to end. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do with Captain Toni in the morning. He turned to Morrigan who only drunk about half her glass. "Excuse me ma'am, you going to finish that?" He asked politely, surprising the woman with his manners.

Morrigan gave another quick sip of her drink. It didn't taste that great to her anyways; much too strong for her taste. She held it up to him, "Knock yourself out."

Vega grinned in appreciation, " _Gracias chica._ " Shepard's cheeks colored a bit, she didn't know what it was about Vega, but no one, no man, had ever done this to her with just a few words. With his thanks said, Vega turned towards the group of Privates before him, narrowly dodging a sluggish swing from the angry Private Morrigan had rejected just minutes before; bring the half full drink up and splashing the strong alcohol into his eyes.

Both Shepard and the hulking marine before her (unknowingly) winced together as the smug marine cried out in pain at the feeling of his eyes burning. One of his friends tried to take advantage of the moment of distraction and tried to sneak a hit on Vega only for sharp reflexes to aid in his own fist being caught; followed by Vega promptly taking the now empty glass and shattering it on his head, knocking that particular Private out before he hit the ground.

"Dammit James! Was that really necessary!?" Another Private's voice hollered from the background. It was one of the smarter once who didn't want any part of the drama going on.

James looked at the knocked out Private on the ground, ignoring the Blonde Privates anguished cries about his eyes as he checked the damage he'd inflicted. _'Possible minor concussion, nice little gash.'_ James' assessed to himself, though he wouldn't put money on it. He was a soldier, a grunt first. He was never a medic. He turned to only smart Private in the small group of people in front of him. "Take these two to Huerta Memorial. I will be taking this to Captain Toni in the morning." James stated with authority and any of the other Privates who thought about ganging up on James just seconds ago lost their drive. They already realized they threw the first punch and they could very well be dishonorably discharged before actually starting their service.

Morrigan was impressed. The man before her just handled a group of Privates by himself. Even she would have been hard pressed to fight all of them at once. He cleverly used a bit of his own hand-to-hand skill, if she could count using a glass cup as hand-to-hand as well as his own rank to get the others to fall in line and leave Purgatory. She immediately decided she liked this man. He was much different from the rest of the men that had hit on her from the moment she'd enlisted.

James took a moment to walk up to the bartender and handed her a sum of credits. "Two glasses, full bottle of whiskey. Keep the rest to cover for the broken cup." James stated before he was given the requested items before walking back to Morrigan. "You okay?"

Morrigan decided she would give the man a break and let him drink with her, if only to shut him down when he tried to make a move on her. "I'm fine, could have handled those guys though. Thanks for stepping in anyways."

James gave a smirk, " _Tio_ always drilled into me to be respectful of women and come to their aid, even if they don't necessarily need it."

Morrigan gave a smile of her own, "Good advice, though you should know I'm not like most women."

James' face brightened as he saw Morrigan smile, taking it as a victory as he hadn't seen her smile yet. "I know."

Morrigan raised a brow as her smile dropped, "You know who I am?"

James gave a solemn nod. "Of course. I'd be blind to not recognize you. Though that's not who you are at the moment."

Morrigan's curiosity was peaked. "Oh? Then who am I at the moment?" She asked with the hints of a devious smirk lacing her features.

James gave a grin. He hadn't imagine talking to Commander Shepard would be enjoyable. She always appeared stoic and aloof in all her pictures and interviews; as if she didn't have a whole lot of happiness in her life. "I see a woman who simply wants to have a drink."

"You hit the nail on the head, Vega."

James snorted slightly, he never did like people calling him by his last name in everyday conversation. During his missions it didn't bother him. "Just call me James."

"You can just call me Morrigan." Shepard replied. A small silence enveloped them as James poured their respective glasses, both taking a much desired drink before Shepard tried to continue the conversation. "So…who were those guys?"

James rose an eyebrow at the question before his eyes narrowed. "Eh, privileged kids who think everyone owes them. They joined me and Captain Toni because they did well in basic. Have a habit of disobeying orders."

Morrigan nodded, she knew those kinds of people who felt like everyone had to bend to their will. She felt it particularly enjoyable when they expect her to crawl into bed with them as if she was some whore and she set them straight _real_ quick. "I know what you mean."

"Yeah. Though knowing my luck it will somehow turn on me." James shook his head.

Morrigan leaned forward, seeing the slight look of fear written on his face. "Well, if it helps. Tell them Commander Shepard stands as key witness to you defending me. That will save you. Worst case scenario have your Captain contact me and I'll explain it to him."

James' face lit up in appreciation. "Thank you ma'am!"

Morrigan waved him off, "It's no big deal. It's a shame when such promising marines such as yourself are mistreated because rich kids can't have their way and you set them straight. And don't call me "ma'am", it makes me feel old."

"You're not that old." James smirked in response.

Morrigan laughed, she found herself surprised at the action, she hardly laugh; even then, it was mostly with Anderson. "I'm well on my way, 29 or 30 right now. I can't remember.

"You can't remember your own age?"

"Hey, I lose track of time. I don't have a life outside of the Alliance so I don't exactly have anything to look forward to when I'm not on assignments." Morrigan mock pouted. The alcohol was clearly starting to mess with her.

"Nothing? No family? Friends? Lover?" James asked, bewildered. He had imagined _the_ Commander Shepard would have lines of people coming to meet her or at least have friends to hang out with.

"The only real family I have, I broke contact when she disagreed with my decision to take ground deployments rather than serve on star ships in a commanding position. I'd much rather work with the grunts, on the ground. I never made any friends growing up and the most recent one I had I just broke off when she tried to persuade me into taking someone home tonight. And no, I don't have a lover and I never had." Morrigan replied with a somewhat monotone voice.

"Ah, damn. That must be hard."

Morrigan gave a smirk, "It's not so bad. You get used to it and it helps to have toys." Her face immediately went red as she realized what she just said. She looked at James in embarrassment and saw that his own gaze was surprised as the tidbit of information she had unintentionally gave him. "Sorry, the alcohol is working its magic. What about you?"

James took a moment to recover before he replied. "What about me?"

"I mean, age, family, that kind of thing. You did ask about me, it's only fair I ask about you." Morrigan replied with a slight smile, a look of mischievousness glint flickering in her eyes.

"Ah, well, I'm 25. I do have something to look forward to outside of my assignments actually; family mostly. I do have a small amount of friends and I don't have a 'lover'." James answered bluntly and shortly. "Anything else you'd like to interrogate out of me?" He finished with a wink.

Morrigan's cheek tinted red, though thankfully the lights around Purgatory hid that well. "I'm surprised you don't have a lover, given how handsome you are."

James' grinned at the compliment, "The same could be said to such a beautiful woman."

"Are you trying to flatter me James?"

"I don't know. Are you flirting with me Lola?"

Morrigan took a moment to process what he called her, "Lola?"

A look of regret washed of James' face before he settled back into a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I had a friend whose sister's name was Lola. She was hot. Tough too, just like you. Sorry about that."

Morrigan took a moment to think about what she heard, "Lola huh." She smiled. "You're cute, so I'll let you get away with it." She could almost see James face go beat red with the flirtatious tone of her words.

"That's it, now you've made me blush." James mocked complained earning laughter from Morrigan.

"Aww, did make little Jimmy embarrassed." It was official to her mind, she was drunk. She found herself sobered slightly when she heard her Omni-Tool ping, she held up her arm to see who it was that was trying to get ahold of her and saw who it was. She gave an apologetic look to James, "Sorry, I have to take this."

"It's no problem." James assured, as Morrigan answered the call bringing up an image of a person.

"Hello Anderson." Morrigan greeted, trying her best not to look drunk.

Anderson's face on the screen gave a look of inquiry as he studied Morrigan through the feed. "Who are you and what you have done to Morrigan Shepard? She doesn't get drunk." He finally said with a smirk written on his face.

Morrigan rolled her eyes as she replied, "I've been drunk before Anderson. It's not **that** uncommon."

"Yeah, but you look like you're genuinely enjoying yourself for once." Anderson retorted with a smile before he took a moment to compose himself, adopting a looking of authority, "The reason I contacted you was to say that something came up and I will not have you report to me at 0800 tomorrow. Instead it will be 0600 the following day."

Morrigan rose an eyebrow, 'T _hat's unusual for him to put off reporting to him'._ "What's going on, sir?"

Anderson gave a shrug, "Ah, it's nothing major. Some last minute adjustments to the Normandy's systems are taking longer than expected and the weapons aren't fully operational. Anyways, enjoy your extra day of shore-leave. It will be one of the last ones you may get for a while."

Without waiting for a goodbye, Anderson disconnected, though it wasn't surprising to Shepard. They knew each other well enough when to say goodbye without saying it. "So another day of shore-leave?" she heard James question with a slight grin.

"Yep."

"Anything plans?"

"Nothing in particular. I kind of blew up on my only friend, so other than maybe coming here later for drinks, nope, nothing." Morrigan shrugged as she reached for the almost empty bottle of whiskey and poured the last of it into her glass.

"Want to do something with me?" James asked all of a sudden, catching her by surprise.

She gave a mischievous smirk, "James Vega, are you asking me out on a date? We've only known each other for two hours." Morrigan double checked her Omni-Tool to confirm how long she'd been at Purgatory, it was 11:27pm Citadel time. She hardly went to Earth and while she would quickly declare it her home world, it wasn't really home to her; therefore she rarely used it's time.

James sputtered as he fumbled to put his words together. "I…uh, I mean if you…"

Morrigan laughed at the embarrassment and shyness of James before she hastily gave a reply that would affect her for many years. "Of course I'll go on a date with you."

James embarrassment at fumbling his words quickly disappeared as his face lit up. "Really? Is that ok?"

Morrigan waved him off, she could understand his nervousness, she was a very popular figure for Humans and being seen in public with her could draw potentially unwanted attention to himself. "Its fine, but only if you want to. You're an interesting guy, James. The only guy who has ever really caught my eye in any way." The last part was a slight exaggeration on her part. She had met men who were physically attractive but she had never met one who interested in on the emotional level. James was the first man to not only have the latter, but both former and latter at once.

"A date it is! What time do you want me to swing by?" James asked, excitement already lacing his voice as if he was a giddy school boy again.

Morrigan gave a soft laugh as she gulped the last of her drink down before leaning over the table, "Easy there tiger. We still have the rest of the night before we can discuss a time." She finished before she tried to get up to get to the bar to order more alcohol, only to stumble on her own feet before she was caught my James; his swift reflexes allowing him to bolt out of the chair and catch her.

"Woah there Lola. I think you've had enough." He stated softly as he lifted her up slightly to get her back on her feet straight.

Morrigan on her end, felt a very unfamiliar, but very pleasant warmth when she felt James' arms wrap around her as she almost fell. She almost wished he would keep her wrapped up in his arms and never let go. "I haven't had _that_ much." She stated, though it came out in a slight slur.

James grinned as he helped Morrigan turn to face the table they shared for the last few hours to see almost 3 large bottles of whiskey. "I don't remember have _that_ much." She pouted, as she unconsciously leaned back into James' chest.

"Alright Lola, let's get you home." James stated as he paid the tab for himself and Shepard before he helped her walk towards the exit of Purgatory, "Where are you staying?"

Morrigan tried to walk but found that the alcohol in her system had completely taken away her ability to walk normally, instead she had to lean against James completely; something she strangely didn't mind one bit. "Anderson gave me his apartment. It's in the Tiberius Towers on the Silversun Strip."

James whistled slightly, he heard the apartments there were nice, he could only imagine what Morrigan's would look like. "I'm guessing I'm going to need to carry you?"

Morrigan gave a sheepish smile which James took as an indication of 'yes' as he bent down and put one of his arms behind Morrigan's knees before scooping him up in his arms. For whatever reason, her now irrational mind made her wrap her arms around James neck, almost think he was going to drop her. "You move fast Lola." James's teased earning a blush from Morrigan.

"Shut up and take me home Vega!"

James's laughed as he walked out of Purgatory with a drunk Commander Shepard in his arms. Unbeknownst to them, Tanya who eventually got over her sorrow saw Shepard get carried out the door in a man's arms; a pleased smile written on the clearly drunk woman's face. _'Damn, she scored a hunk of meat. Atta girl.'_ She thought with a satisfied, but somewhat sad smile. _'Hopefully she can forgive me.'_

* * *

James silently thanked that he didn't have near as much alcohol as Shepard; something he realized as he went to rent a skycar to take to Tiberius Towers. It wouldn't have been pretty to crash a skycar there, it would have left him in debt for most of his career. Shepard was uncharacteristically quiet in her drunken state. At first she hardly spoke a word, but as the alcohol in her system begun taking effect she quickly opened up and became much more talkative. It took the better part of 15 minutes to navigate himself to Shepard's apartment, mostly because he'd never been there personally. Hell, he'd never been to the Presidium which he'd heard was very beautiful.

With the beautiful Commander in his arms he was finally able to open the door to her apartment, in no large part in trying to rouse Shepard from her light slumber long enough to punch in the access codes. When he fit himself in the doorway he looked around. The apartment was huge! "Holy shit…" He muttered to himself. He took in the apartment, it looked very much what could be expected of Anderson: clean. Though he somehow knew Shepard's touch when he saw it, mostly consisting of empty containers of alcohol and leftover food and dishes laying on the counters.

James had to walk around the apartment with the sleeping Morrigan in his arms he tried to find the master bedroom. Eventually he went upstairs and viola, it was the first door he saw. _'Of course it's the last place I check_.' He thought irritated with himself. He walked into the somewhat messy room, mostly consisting of tops and pants laying on the floor, he figured it meant that Shepard slept in little clothing. He, as best he could with a sleeping woman in his arms, pulled back the covers and slowly eased her out of his arms onto the bed.

Almost as if sensing the loss of his heat, Morrigan stirred awake, drowsiness clearly evident in her eyes. "James? Where am I?"

"We're at your apartment now. I'll be sure to lock the door on my wait out." James stated softly, missing the disappointed look Morrigan casted.

"Wait. Can you help me out of these clothes?" James' mouth gapped at the request. Sure he had seen his fair share of naked women, even undressing them himself at some points, but Commander Shepard had just asked him to take off her clothes. As if sensing his thoughts, Morrigan gave a slight giggle. Still definitely drunk. "You pervert, I sleep in my top and panties, I don't sleep nude."

James shook his head to clear his thoughts. _'Head out of your ass, Vega. No way she actually wants you like that, let alone wants to let you see her naked._ ' He reprimanded himself before he helped Shepard sit up, helped her unzip and take off her N7 hoodie before she raised her arms raised in the air to let him pull her top off. He tossed it to the side of the bed before he looked back at Shepard who had fallen back onto the bed. She lifted up her legs and James gulped, in Purgatory it was slightly dark there and he'd only seen her sitting but now he was finally able to see how well her BDU trousers fit her, she had, in his opinion, a perfect ass. Not letting his thoughts get the best of him, he pulled of her boots and set them on the ground, then he unbuttoned her trousers before he tugged them up and off before tossing them on the floor as well. He took a moment to lay eyes on the mostly undressed woman before him, interested in what she slept in. A baby blue tank top and pink panties? He hadn't quite thought of her as the girly type given her reputation but then again, once the alcohol took affect she became quite a different person.

"You like what you see _Vega_?" Morrigan teased as she saw the man staring at her. She knew she was quite attractive, but she never flaunted it or really used it to get what she wanted. In fact it mostly disgusted her at how many men, and sometimes women, ogled her body. For some reason she felt very pleased the muscular man above her was doing the exact same thing.

"I won't deny that I do, _Shepard_." James retorted. He stepped back to the foot of the bed as he grabbed the head of the blanket and pulled it up to her neck, tucking her in, making sure she was comfortable. "You better rest, Lola. We'll figure out a time to meet later." He stated, as he stood straight and began walking to the door.

Morrigan's heart raced as the man began leaving, ' _I've just met him and yet I don't want him to ever leave. What is this?_ ' she questioned herself in disbelief. She found it hard to believe that despite knowing James for not even 5 hours she was quietly begging he'd stay the night; if not just to keep her warm at night. _'Ah hell, it must be the alcohol._ '

"Hold on James."

James' slow walk came to a screeching halt as he was about to walk out the doorway before he turned on his heel to face Morrigan, "Yes, Lola?"

"You…don't have to go. You can stay here if you want." Morrigan commented, suddenly very timid.

"I don't want to intru-"

"Plus your body is very warm. I get cold at night at a lot." Morrigan interrupted, though James didn't mind as it quickly deadened any protest he could come up with; not that they were real protest on his part.

He gave a sigh in amusement, "You're one interesting woman, Lola." James stated with a grin as he walked back into the room, towards the bed.

"The same could be said to you, James" Morrigan retorted as she watched James walk to the other side of the bed, only throwing his shirt and boots off onto the floor before he climbed into bed next to her. Upon settling in he turned to facing Morrigan and wrapped an arm around her before pulling her into his chest, earning a quiet yelp from the woman. It took only a few seconds before Morrigan relaxed into James' embrace, "Mmm, this is nice. I could get used to this."

"You've never even shared a bed with someone? I mean platonically." James inquired, he got his answered when he both felt and saw Morrigan turn her head. "Well then, I'll be sure to make the first time a good one." He promised with a grin, though Morrigan couldn't see it as her back was turned to him.

"I'll hold you to that." Morrigan challenged, though sleep was already about to claim her when she was speaking. It took only a solid minute for James to recognize the familiar breathing patterns of someone sleeping to know the woman in his arms was already asleep. Content with how the night turned out, James let himself fall asleep.

* * *

It was an unfamiliar feeling she felt as she woke up. Normally despite how warm she was when she went to bed, blankets or not, she would _always_ wake up freezing. On the days she used a blanket, she woke up and it was only covering her feet only. This time seemed different. She didn't open her eyes as she quickly felt the familiar fabric of the blanket at her waist leaving her torso and arms exposed. She frowned, normally she would be cold.

She moved slightly but found she was pinned and her eyes shot open in a mixture of surprise and panic. Where was she? Who was in bed with her? Did they do it? Did she even allow them? She had so many questions as she began to squirm in the embrace of the man. Strangely despite her panic the warmth she felt from the man felt very familiar and comforting and her acts of protest came to a halt when her body began to scream at her to relax in the embrace.

It was minutes later when the muscular man behind her began to stir, a noticeable yawn erupting from his lips as his eyes wide and he took in the sight before him. "Morning Lola."

"Good morning James." She stated plainly, back to her impassive tone, "Did we…?"

"No." James answered quickly, before he sought out to explain himself. "You were drunk and I wasn't about to do that."

"Sorry, I don't remember much after asking if you would help me get home." Morrigan apologized.

James gave a soft laugh. "It's no worries. You simply asked if I would stay, something about keeping you warm at night, which is why I'm here."

Morrigan let a small smile show on her face, despite James being unable to see it. "I actually remember that one. Thank you."

"Anytime. Now, if I could have my arm back, I can make us some eggs." James motioned to the arm that Shepard was both using as a pillow and had her arms wrapped around it possessively.

Morrigan's cheeks went read as she unwrapped her arms and lifted her head. "Sorry, I'm going to go change now, I'll meet you downstairs.

James nodded as he pulled his currently asleep armed out from under her head, bending down to grab his shirt before struggling to pull it over his head with one arm asleep. He decided to take a moment to regain the feeling back in it before he pulled his boots on and he walked downstairs, just leaving the room before he saw Morrigan enter the shower out of the corner of his eye.

Morrigan sighed in contentment as the hot water hit her naked body; washing away all the smells of alcohol and James aroma; though she secretly liked the latter. It was strange. In the span of one night, she went from the impassive and cold Commander Shepard to almost a giddy girl with her crush to waking up in bed with him. Secretly, she was almost disappointed nothing else had happened between them, but the response she got from James made her heart flutter. "You were drunk and I wasn't about to do that" he said it made her respect him immensely. Not many men would willingly abstain from taking advantage of a drunk woman, even if she egged him on in their drunken state; and she had no doubt that in her drunken state that she would have turned him down.

No doubt her friend…former friend…whatever, Tanya, would eventually find out about what she did last night if she didn't already see her during her time with James. She tried to be mad at her for Tanya's remark about her parents, but she found herself unable. Hell, she found herself feeling great today! She didn't have sex last night, but the simple act she experienced of just sleeping in a man's arms, particularly in her case a man who was gentle and caring, erased all her tensions; almost making her feel like a new woman.

She turned the water off and grabbed a towel, running it loosely through her lengthy dark brown hair, just drying it enough to not drip before she wrapped it around her body. She was half hoping he wasn't in her room as the towel barely covered her properly; though if she was completely honest with herself the idea of James seeing her in the towel excited her. She smiled slightly as she opened up the door to her bedroom and begun getting her clothes on; wanting to look at least somewhat decent for her date with James.

* * *

"Vega! Private Reynolds and Private Johnson tells me you struck out at them last night. Explain yourself." Captain Toni roared as James reported to him later that morning.

"Sir, I reacted in self defense." James defended himself, looking beyond his CO to see the blond private and the one with a gash on his head from last night with smug looks on their faces, evidently thinking they could get him in trouble.

"Mr. Vega took offence when we approached a woman and he splashed Asari alcohol in my eyes and smashed the cup against Private Johnson here. We didn't do anything wrong." Reynolds protested with a lie, making James grate his teeth. Two against one wasn't good for him.

Toni looked from the privates to James, he personally liked James better than the rich boys, but he had to face the facts that it was two against one. He couldn't play favorites here. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, Vega?"

"Actually I do, Captain." A female voice rang out as Morrigan walked in, earning a startled look from James, a shocked look from the Privates and a somewhat angry look from Toni.

"And you are?" Toni eyed, somewhat annoyed they were interrupted.

"Commander Morrigan Shepard. N7. Alliance Navy." Morrigan replied as she saluted. "I am here to speak on James Vega's behalf. I was there last night."

Captain Toni's breath caught for a moment. He may have held higher rank than Shepard but even he felt somewhat humbled to be in the presence of such a soldier. "Apologies Commander, with you in your civvies, I thought you were some commoner."

Morrigan gave a quick look down, she was only wearing baggy black pants, boots, and her N7 Hoodie, but she waved the Captain off, "No worries."

Toni gave a sigh, "Well then, what can you add to this situation?"

Morrigan gave a slight smile before she turned somewhat angrily to look at Private Reynolds whose face turned white in realization that he called _the_ Commander Shepard a bitch and tried to force himself to her. "Private Reynolds here initiated the fight with backup with some of his other Private friends, Johnson included. James here only reacted in self-defense when Reynolds threw the first punch.

Johnson got over his shock fast enough as he threw out his own protest. "Captain she's lying, she's just probably fucking Vega and felt inclined to be on his side!"

Toni gave a sigh, he felt inclined to believe Shepard more, as she was a much more respected soldier. "Commander, would you happen to have any solid proof, as much as I'd like to believe you and Vega, it would be better if I had something that was irrefutable."

Morrigan gave a nod as she brought up her Omni-Tool and played the recording. She kept her Omni-Tool on when she went drinking, just in case. It never really served her, but this time it would. She skipped to the part to where she ordered her drink from the Asari bartender from that night.

Reynolds face morphed into an expression of fear, _'She recorded it?!'_ He thought in worry as the recording got to the part where he called her a bitch and threatened James.

When the recording was done, Morrigan cutting it off after James had driven the Privates away, Toni was beyond furious, only calming down enough to address James and Vega. "Commander Shepard I thank you for bringing this to light. It would have been bad for such an event to mar record of such a promising soldier like Vega." He turned to James, "I apologize, Vega, however, I need you here tomorrow at 0800 sharp."

James saluted, "Sir." Before he looked to the Privates sharing a smug grin with Shepard while Toni wasn't looking at them; earning angry glares at them.

The duo were quiet for a few moments as they walked outside of Toni's place, before the tension was uplifted. "So…that was your CO?"

James gave a grin, "Yep, He's a hard ass son of a bitch, but he's a good man. Doesn't admit it, but I'm his favorite."

"He certainly didn't show it." Morrigan snorted.

James shrugged, "Well, he was trying to be fair, it was understandable, even if I was upset about it."

Morrigan nodded, before she looked up at James, "So…about that date?"

"Shit, we forgot to arrange a time."

"That's okay, we can start now." Morrigan suggested, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"It's barely 9 o'clock, Citadel time."

"Well then, you'll just have to put up with me for that much longer." Morrigan smirked, earning a surprise look from James.

"Well, I suppose to could put up with a beautiful woman for a couple hours." James teased as he picked up his pace, looking for something to do.

"Kiss ass." Morrigan retorted as she lightly punched James arm.

* * *

For Morrigan, the day went by in a haze. She had genuinely enjoyed herself with James, something she didn't expect. She thought that while sober she wouldn't be any fun with him but quickly found that she could relax around James much better than anyone else, even Anderson. The day in a nutshell wasn't as eventful, but nonetheless enjoyable as she and James went from browsing various shops, eating at a diner, to simply finding a bench and chatting away.

To the disappointment of both, the day had to eventually end and Morrigan had to be up early to report to Anderson; she was overjoyed when James insisted he'd accompany her back to her place. Within moments they were standing outsider her door.

"I guess this is is." James commented, a sad tone lacing his voice.

Morrigan opened the door before she turned back, her eyes lingering with mutual sadness. "I guess it is. I had fun today, James. Thank you."

James grinned, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself Lola. Thanks for taking a chance with a guy like me."

The cogs turned in Morrigan's mind, she didn't want things to end like this and never see him again, "Would you care if I took another chance?"

James shrugged, "Sure, what is it?" Before he could react, Morrigan quickly closed the distance and smashed her lips to him. His eyes widened in surprise before he surrendered himself to the kiss and let himself lose himself in the feeling.

Morrigan moaned slightly as quick kiss she had initially intended became a full blown make out session as their tongues battled for dominance. No clear winner was shown as they both ran out of oxygen before then; they both pulled back, panting, with lust written on their faces.

"Was it worth the chance?" James asked with a grin.

Morrigan responded by wrapping her arms around James' neck with a smile of her own; her face flushed red. "Definitely worth it. I almost want to take more."

James' breathing became erratic at the answer he was given as he leaned his head down and rested it on hers. "Take all that you want, Lola."

Morrigan quickly decided to lose herself to her desires, throwing caution to the wind as she pulled James into her apartment and up the stairs and pushing him onto the bed before crawling up on top of him and kissing him again. "I'll take everything you can give." She breathed out as she broke the kiss long enough to pull off her hoodie and threw it off the bed, leaving her in a tight black T-shirt that accentuated her breast.

James ran his hands up Morrigan's sides, only grazing the side of her breast as she leant down to kiss him, causing her to moan into the kiss. Her moans were like music to his ears as he reached down and grabbed her ass, causing her to break the kiss with a gasp.

"I see you liked that one, Lola." James cockily commented, causing Shepard to growl lustfully as she reach down and tugged at his shirt, James lifting himself off the bed just enough for her to pull his shirt off and over his head; before Morrigan threw it somewhere around the room.

"God, how much do you work out?" Morrigan asked as she ran her hands all around James' muscular torso, loving the feel of it.

"Every night if I can help it, before I take a shower." James answered, with an attempted shrug that failed due to laying down on the bed with Shepard straddling his lower stomach.

"Well, then you have no worries. I'll be sure to give you a workout." Morrigan whispered lustfully next to his ear, before she straightened herself as she brought her shirt up over her head and threw it out of sight, revealing her bare, perfect, breast.

"Lola, I didn't know you were _that_ kind of girl." James teased, though he was in awe at the sight before him, soaking in the view above him.

"I didn't initially expect to have you in my bed." Morrigan huskily replied, grabbing James' hands and placing them on her chest; moaning as he began to knead her breast in his calloused hands. The feeling it brought her was so much better than playing with herself. She had no idea the hands of another on her body could feel so good. Suddenly, despite her eyes hazily watching James, she failed to notice he took one of her nipples into her mouth and began to suck on it, earning a cry of pleasure. "Aaaah. That feels good James, don't stop." Morrigan breathily requested as she felt heat building up around her core.

James continued to violate Morrigan's breast for several minutes, alternating between each breast with his mouth. Eventually, Morrigan couldn't wait anymore. She got off James and the bed, earning a groan of disappointment which only sounded further when she sensually shook off her BDU trousers, revealing a pair of red lace panties underneath. She smirked at James ogling her body as she reach the foot of the bed and pulled on James' trousers, disregarding the usual process to unbutton them and she simply pulled them off, revealing light gray boxers with a significant bulge in them.

Morrigan gulped slightly as she became nervous, James so far had pleased her and now she had to please him. She crawled back onto the bed on her hands and knees before she settled before James' crotch.

"You okay Lola?" James asked, worry lacing his voice as he looked down at the woman sitting at his groin.

"Sorry, I've never done this before." Morrigan answered timidly, as she pulled James' boxers down as well, revealing his massive erection.

James fought to suppress a laugh at Morrigan's surprise at seeing his size. He knew he was above average, though he didn't think it was by much. However he decided to calm her nerves. "If you don't' want to Lola, I understand."

Morrigan took a moment to steel her resolve, closing her eyes as she sighed, before she looked back at him with hardened eyes, glazed over with lust. "No. I'm fine, I'm not letting you chicken out now." With that she gave a tentative lick alongside the length of James cock. She took a moment to assess the taste, finding she didn't mind it one bit, giving it another lick. Hearing the groans from the man at the other end of the bed only further encouraged her as she opened her mouth up wider as she put the head in her mouth and sucked lightly; running her tongue on the tip.

James balled the sheets of the bed in his hands at the sensation he was feeling. Very few woman ever gave him head, preferably only doing it so he would get hard and lubricated before progressing to the next stage. "Damn Lola!" he groaned out.

Morrigan let James' cock fall out of her mouth with a sensual 'pop' sounding before she started stroking it slowly, as she took the small reprieve from her mouth being worked in ways it never had experienced. Within a few seconds she took the entire length of James' manhood into her mouth and began bobbing her head; feeling James hand tangle itself in her hair as she gently pushed her head down.

It was clumsy, or so she thought as she almost gagged several times when she took it too far into her mouth, but she dismissed the thought when she looked up with a lustful gaze to see James beginning to squirm underneath her, his hand desperately trying to force her to finish the job.

"Lola, I'm about to cum." James groaned out; his climax already beginning as he finished, catching Morrigan by surprise when she felt him burst, with the first spurt of his seed splashing against the back of her throat before pulling back to let it fill her mouth.

She kept bobbing her head slightly to prolong James' climax, with a few more ropes of sperm bursting out before she gave one final suck before taking him out of her mouth; his length already softening. She looked to James with her mouth open slightly, revealing her mouth filled almost completely with his sperm before she closed it and swallowed it, almost choking at the large amount in her mouth.

James immediately felt himself harden at the sight, it was a first for him for a woman to suck him off to a climax and man did he ever enjoy the view of Morrigan with her mouth full of his sperm before she swallowed it. "Hot damn Lola, you're a natural at this."

Morrigan's face went beat red, "W-well, I have watched videos before…" she left it hanging, too embarrassed to continue. James rose off his back to ease Morrigan to the bed, except that Morrigan pushed him back onto his back instead, surprised by her strength. "James…I need you…" She moaned out as she hooked her thumbs under her panties before pulling them down and kicking them off before setting her soaked core on James' manhood.

"You sure, Lola?"

Morrigan felt her heart flutter at the worry. He was very unlike every man she'd known, many she'd guess would not ask any questions and just use her for the sex rather than try to make it anything more than just sex. This was different as the information that this was her first time made him very gentle with her. "Yes, I want this. You, James. Please." She begged as she raised her hips and grabbed James' length and let the head prod at her entrance and began to lower herself.

It felt like agonizing hours which were merely seconds as Morrigan lowered herself slowly, an evident pained expression written on her face. "You okay Lola?"

Morrigan gave a weak smile as she continued to lower herself, "Yeah, it just…smarts a little. My hymen broke a long time ago." She felt her walls work to accommodate James' cock, as she finally came into contact with James' thighs; sitting there a moment to adjust. With the pain finally subsiding to a dull ache, Morrigan raised her hips slightly before she brought them down, a moan eliciting from her. _'This feels…good.'_ She thought to herself before she eagerly raised her hips higher, letting only the tip of James cock stay inside her before she slammed them down. She almost cried out in pleasure.

James had been with a few women before, them varying between their experiences and likes, but he found Morrigan's pussy to be very tight compared to them, which his attributed to her never having sex before. Despite this though, he felt the pace was slightly too slow for his liking. The atmosphere of their lovemaking was more on the frantic side than sensual as James put his hands on Morrigan's hips and brought her down hard before raising her up almost as fast.

"Ahh! So good!" Morrigan moaned out as she let James guide her hips, letting her save her energy, she was already getting tired and she just started. It was beyond any form of pleasure she ever felt and it made her weak, her arms felt weak as she eased herself down over James face and kissed him passionately; her arms cupping his face. Morrigan moaned into the kiss as James had taken to thrusting up into her with reckless abandon, his restraint having long since eroded away once he felt the velvety walls tighten around him. Morrigan broke the kiss as she felt her climax coming. "James…I'm….I" She broke her words off as she quickly arch her back up and threw her head back into a silent scream, her pussy clamping down on James' almost as if clamping onto it's lifeline.

James slowed down his thrusting, mostly due to the vice grip her fleshy walls had on him, as he tried to prolong the beautiful woman's climax. As it subsided Morrigan completely fell onto James, all her strength leaving her. "Looked like you felt that one, Lola." James laughed softly as the woman had yet to regain cognitive thought. He decided a switch was in order as he slowly turned Morrigan over onto her back with him nestled between her legs, having never pulled out.

"James…that was…amazing. I thought I was going to die with how good it felt" Morrigan huskily stated as she finally regained her thoughts.

"Hell of a way to die then. 'Breaking News: Woman dies by orgasm by her lover." James teased, causing the two of them to laugh before Morrigan tried bringing her hips up to make James go further into her. "Ready to continue?"

Morrigan gave a half-hearted scowl, "Just hurry up and fuck me." Morrigan demanded, authority lacing her tone as James gave a soft laugh; extracting himself partially before ramming himself back in. "Ahhh!"

Within seconds James had a steady rhythm as he eagerly set to fucking Morrigan at speeds he never went with any other woman. Morrigan on the other hand squirmed underneath him at the pleasure of being filled then empty, then filled again; her breathy moans music to James' ears as the two stared into their equally lustful gazes.

"James….James…" Morrigan moaned out repeatedly, never forming a coherent thought or sentence as she braced herself with one hand on the back on James' neck. The bed they were one squeaking loudly as it lightly rapped against the wall with each thrust of James' hips.

"Lola…I'm gonna cum!" James groaned out as he increased his speed, ready to pull out before he felt Morrigan wrap her legs tightly around his waist. "Lola?"

Morrigan lifted her head enough to kiss James quickly before she pulled back and stared into his eyes. "Don't stop…I want to feel it." She moaned out. That was all james needed to hear as he kept increasing his speed to quicken his release. She didn't have to wait long before she felt her own climax closing in.

With a slight roar and a final thrust, James buried himself to the hilt into Morrigan as he felt himself burst; Morrigan's tightly wrapped legs trying to pull him in further. Morrigan gave a cry of pleasure as the feeling of James painting her womb sent her over the edge into another orgasm; clenching down tightly onto James' cock. " _Mierda!_ " James cursed in Spanish as he gave a few weak thrust, shooting his final spurts of sperm into the quivering woman underneath him before he braced his arms at Morrigans sides to prevent himself from crushing her under his weight.

"Ah…..hah…." Morrigan panted out, exhausted from the activity. But despite her exhausted she felt fantastic, if a little sore _down there_. "James…that was amazing." She purred into his ear.

James panted slightly, trying to catch his own breath before responding, "Hot damn Lola, you were right. This was a workout." And he wasn't lying, he felt exhausted himself, he never tried to go two rounds before in quick succession. He slowly pulled out of Morrigan's warmth, his length already softening, noticing his seed starting to seep out of her and onto the sheets before he fell to the side of Morrigan.

Morrigan gave a smirk at the response. "I told ya so. Thank you James."

James rose himself just enough to give her a chaste kiss, "No problem Lola." He then wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to them before pulling the gathered blankets at the end of the bed over them; sleep quickly claiming them both.

* * *

Morrigan felt amazingly refreashed. She thought she felt brand new yesterday but this morning blew that out of the ball park. She turned in James' arms to see him sleeping so peacefully. She brought up her Omni-Tool. Six in the morning by Citadel's time. She had to report in to Anderson by 0800, which meant being there early at 0730. That gave about an hour and half to get ready and she wanted to enjoy it.

Turning her Omni-Tool of she gently push James onto his back, not letting his arm drag her with him before she crawled on top of him; somehow still completely covered by the sheets. She reached down and felt James. _'Still soft._ ' She thought with a disappointed sigh, before she began stroking his length to harden it. Thankfully it seemed to react to her even if James himself was asleep.

Not wanting to wait for his full hardness, she quickly impaled herself on it, a gasp sounding in the room as the feeling of being filled so quickly along with the sperm that still filled her womb splashing around added into amazing pleasure for her. She quickly set to work as she began gyrating her hips with haste; she'd be damn if she was about to get on a ship for, God knows how long, with people she really didn't know without having some kind of memory to stay with her. Her quiet gasp quickly turn to quiet moans as she slowly disregarded James sleeping form, unknowingly causing him to stir as he felt something slapping at his thighs as well as a familiar warmth wrapped around him.

James grumbled a bit as he tried to make out what the sounds were as he slightly opened his eyes to get adjusted to the light. When he did he found what woke him up, and it was a sight he'd never not like to see. He surprised her by grabbing her hips and stopping her dead; earning a shocked expression for the woman riding him. "Hell of a way to wake a man up, Lola. I think you're a keeper." He teased as he refused to let the woman raise or lower herself, causing her to squirm in his grasph.

"Ah…I have to report in for my new assignment in a little over an hour and I didn't want to just wake up and get read." Morrigan timidly responded with embarrassment, not quite catching the last part James said.

"how about we kill two birds with one stone?" James suggested with a grin as he lifted Morrigan up as he got up out of bed, earning a yelp from the woman as she hastily wrapped her arms and legs around him to not fall, as he walked to the shower room. To James surprise and amusement, he found that Morrigan could actually give a girly cry when he turned on the water on the two of them and it came out blistering cold. He quickly muffled her cries when he pushed her against the shower wall and resumed thrusting into her again.

"Ahhh, right there." Morrigan moaned out as the warming shower water only added to how good she was feeling. The two went at it for almost twenty minutes and it wasn't until James noticed the hot water was slowly running out that he knew they had to finish up soon. He began thrusting erratically to build up his climax, ignoring to cries of pleasure of the woman pressed against his chest. They climaxed together, James releasing into Morrigan again, filling her to the brim, rewarming her insides.

The two gazed at eachother as they caught their breath before their lips came together in a passionate kiss. The pulled apart as a sense of urgency overcame them as they helped wash eachother to quicken their shower. "Geeze James, you came a ton inside me." Morrigan mocked complain with a smile as she 'pushed' his sperm out of her, a small river of sperm spilling out of her, mixing with the water before going down the drain.

"Says the one who kept wrapping her legs around me to keep me from pulling out" James retorted as he ran shampoo through Morrigan's dark brown hair.

Morrigan closed her eyes as James massaged the shampoo into her hair before nudging her under the shower head, rinsing her head, before she gave her reply. "I'll forgive you this once," She leaned in next to his ear, "but only because you made my first time a great one." She finished breathily.

James voice caught in his throat, earning a laugh from Morrigan as she turned off the water and grabbed a towel for her and James to dry off. As they stepped outside of the shower they set to drying themselves off, James not needing a whole lot of time due to his short hair. Morrigan however took a bit longer to dry her long hair before she bent down to dry her legs; displaying her luscious ass to James.

It was as if autopilot kicked in for James as he walked forwards and put his hands on Shepard's waist, who was still bent down drying her legs off. "James? What are you- AH!" Morrigan moaned as James entered her roughly, all the way to the base in one thrust. "Ja-AH! James we can't! Ahhh!" Morrigan tried to protest, knowing her time was running short but she quickly gave in and braced herself against the wall of the bathroom and eagerly met James' thrust with her own. "Mm! Harder James!" She purred out, spurring the hulk of a man to thrust into her faster.

Time started ticking for Morrigan as she lustfully gazed outside of the bathroom and saw the time next to the bed. 0715, she had to finish up. "Hurry James! Come!" She cooed lustfully in an attempt to make him finish faster.

James began to grunt and groan as the woman's words seemed to just spark his own climax, "Shit Lola. Where?" he questioned as his thrust sped up and became erratic.

Morrigan was losing herself to the pleasure despite her insistent to remain set on finishing up their last minute lovemaking. "I don't care…inside!" She moaned out as she arch her head back to kiss James. It was a decision she knew she'd regret as it meant that she would have James' seed seeping into her panties while she started her assignment, but she would live with it as it was already too late to stop James. In no time at all she felt the familiar feeling of James pumping another load of his seed into her. It was also lucky for that she wasn't at risk to get pregnant or else the amount of sperm James seemed to shoot into her, a total of three times now, would have gotten her pregnant three times over. It didn't matter to her in this moment, it fell amazing!

James pulled back and extracted himself from Morrigan as she braced herself against the wall a bit longer, his seed spilling out from her folds onto the white tiled floor. It was a hot sight, but he had to get ready to leave as well since he'd be gone once Shepard had left. The two got dressed in silence, not knowing what else to say since this meant the end of the escapades. When James turned back to the bedroom he was caught with the look of Morrigan coming out of her room clad in a full set of Black N7 Armor. "You look badass Lola. Sexy too." He complimented with a grin. That broke the tension somewhat.

Morrigan gave a slight grin as she gazed at James, still wearing BDU trousers and a gray Alliance T-shirt, obviously from last night as he didn't bring a change of clothes. "And you still look handsome, James."

The atmosphere around them changed in that moment as it became solemn, "So…I guess this is it?" James asked, his tone was sorry. While the sex was nice, he much enjoyed learning about the woman and overall spending time with her more than bedding her. She was an amazing woman, unlike any he had ever met and now they would likely never see eachother again.

Morrigan shared his sorrow tone, but also evident in her expression. "Yeah, maybe I'll see you around." She stated, trying to bring a sad smile to her face.

"Maybe." James replied, solemnly, but he gave a weak smile. With that the duo walked out of the apartment and left for the skycar they rented and rode back to the main part of the Citadel, Morrigan dropping James off at the Lower Levels where he told her he liked to play poker. "Thanks Morrigan, I had a great time." He tried to sound cheerful but it just didn't come out right. He turned to walk away and it made Morrigan's heart leap.

Was it because he'd said her name? Was it because in the span of a day and a half she'd gotten to know him better than anyone else, minus Anderson? She didn't know but watching him walk away tore at her. _'Could I really let this go without at least trying?_ ' she asked herself, and with each step away from her he took, she quickly found her answer. _'Nope, I guess not._ ' With that, she quickly got out of the skycar. Thankfully there was almost no one around as she ran towards the muscular man. "James!"

James turned to the source of the voice and was met with Morrigan throwing her arms around his neck and kissing he deeply, he himself immediately responding eagerly. If nothing else it served to brighten his mood. He pushed away and gave her a look of inquiry, "I thought you had to report in for your new assignment?"

"I do, but I couldn't let things end like this. I want more James. I've only known you for less than two days and yet I feel like I've know you my whole life." Morrigan confessed. She was surprised at how easily it was coming out of her mouth, but she attributed it being stemmed from fear of never seeing James again.

James raise an eyebrow, his hopes starting to rise. "You mean you…"

"I want to try to make this work James, please, if you'll let me." Morrigan almost begged, her eyes looking like she was about to start crying; a look that James learned that he could _never_ say 'no' to.

James pulled her into a hug, "Of course. We can give it a shot." As he wrapped his arms around her tenderly. "You still have to report in soon though." He laughed softly.

Morrigan pulled away and activated her Omni-Tool, sending her contact information to James, his own Omni-Tool lighting up as he saved her contact information. "I'll stay in touch." She winked before she gave him another chaste kiss before running back to the skycar in order to make it in time to report in to Anderson.

James gave a final wave to Morrigan, getting a wave back as she flew off in the skycar. With that he turned back to walk the final stretch to where a group of Batarians played poker, his mood significantly brightened. _'I don't think anything could ruin this day._ ' He though, forgetting how hard it was to read Batarians at poker.

* * *

"Shepard, you're almost late. That's unlike you." Anderson spoke, a stern look adorning his face which was thrown off by the amusement in his voice.

Morrigan caught her breath slightly as she ran up to Anderson, "Sorry sir, had unfinished business to take care off." She almost forgot to return the skycar on her way back and had to run the rest of the way to the docking of the Normandy. ' _Those elevators are_ _ **so**_ _slow!_ '

Anderson gave a knowing smile, as he handed her a datapad, "You made the news."

Morrigan gave a questioning glance as she activated the datapad to reveal a picture of her and James at the diner they went to yesterday, the picture capturing her and James in the middle of laughter. The headlining title: **"** **Commander Shepard Has Finally Found a Man?"** She huffed at the title. She didn't see the big deal about it but wasn't exactly sure how word got around that she never took interested in men and woman enough for it to be news for when she finally did. She glanced up at Anderson who had an amused smile on his face. "What?" she asked, her face reddening with embarrassment.

Anderson's amused face broke into a grin. "Just happy you got yourself a man, if only for the one day."

"It's not for the one day." Morrigan blurted out, before realizing her words. She sighed and decided to spill the rest of the beans. "We decided to try to make it work. We got eachothers contact information so we can keep in touch."

"What's his name?"

"James Vega."

Anderson's eyes widened slightly as he took the datapad and looked at the picture of James, it was kind of obscured but he saw the resemblance. "Well I'll be. I didn't think that was him."

"You know him, sir?"

"Yeah, I helped him get out of some trouble his father got into. Was able to get him enlisted and into the Alliance. Hell of a soldier he's become I hear." Anderson grinned.

Morrigan gave a slight worried look, "What happened with his father?"

Anderson waved her off, his expression taking a stern one. "It wasn't pretty. But that's a story for another time, if he ever decides to share it. It's not my place. Anyways, I'm making you my XO for the Normandy's maiden voyage to Eden Prime."

"Why couldn't you let me know this before?" Morrigan asked.

"I wanted to keep it under wrap for who her crew were. You already know Joker and Chawkwas, the rest of the crew are soldiers and personnel I handpicked myself." Anderson explained as he ushered for her to follow him into the ship."

Morrigan had to admit it was an impressive ship, having heard it was a joint effort between Humans and Turians. The first thing she was lead to was the cockpit of the vessel. "Commander, this is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko. Alenko this is Commander Shepard.

"Commander." Kaidan greeted as he shook Morrigan's hand, he was secretly nervous having always been watching her from afar, via the news.

"Alenko, I look forward to working with you." Morrigan answered, her voice already monotone.

"Commander! I hear you found yourself a man!" an energetic voice rang from the pilot seat, which turned to reveal a bearded man with a hat.

Morrigan felt herself flush slightly, _'Why must my love life be publicized?'_ she thought to herself, somewhat annoyed. "Hello to you too, Joker."

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau, prep the Normandy for take-off." Anderson ordered, before he turned to Shepard.

"Aye aye Captain." Joker sounded before he turned his chair back ground.

"I trust you will get to meeting the rest of the crew while we are in flight. For now I must speak to a special guess who will be joining us on the mission." Anderson spoke before he walked out of the cockpit.

"So what do you think of the ship, Commander?" Kaidan asked, Morrigan immediately noticing he was attempting to make small talk.

"I've only seen parts of it before today, so I don't have much of an opinion yet." Morrigan answered bluntly. "Anyways, I have to get in contact with a few people before we make it to Eden Prime."

"Go have fun talking to your new boyfriend! God knows you've always needed one." Joker playfully commented, earning an embarrassed smile from Morrigan. As she turned to walk away, she could swear she saw Kaidan send her a jealous glance, the look only appearing when 'boyfriend' popped up in conversation.

Walking away she hoped he wasn't one of those men who kept lusting after her, not that she'd ever respond. She smiled to herself as she thought of James. It would definitely make these missions go by knowing she had something to look forward to on her shore-leave. For now, she decided to focus on meeting the rest of the crew and focus on the mission.

* * *

 **For those of you who speak fluent Spanish unlike me (I only took two years, so I'm not great at it), please don't be upset if I made mistakes (Spelling or otherwise wrong usage). This chapter (13,000 words long) is more of a taste of things. Chapters from here on won't be as long (3-4 thousand words each). I will have a bit of onesided Shepard/Kaiden, with it mostly being Kaidan desiring Shepard for himself but getting upset over Shepards already establish relationship with James, but no real Shepard/Kaidan. Hopefully you liked the story, if you liked it feel free to favorite it and leave a review, if you have questions or suggestions leave that in a review or shoot me a PM. I'll be sure to answer it. See ya later!**


	2. Life in Space

**Hello again everyone. Here is another chapter of One Night Changed It All. Had some extra free time for this one and it helped the idea flowed nicely on this story as well. 7,600 words never flowed so quickly. This chapter has a lot of time skips over ME 1, with no real emphysis on the ground mission and more on James and Shepard. Please know that these are only proof-read by me (and while I use the latest version of Word, I still have a lot of mistakes). Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **One Night Changed It All**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: Life in Space**_

"Commander?" A female voice rang out, causing Morrigan to stir slight, "Commander?" There the voice was again. This time it was enough to finally stir her to wake.

' _Ugh, my head_.' Morrigan groaned to herself as she opened her eyes, taking a moment for her vision to clear before she took in her surroundings. She was in the med bay of the Normandy, with Chakwas and Kaidan were standing over her.

"Commander, glad you're awake. How are you feeling? "The doctor asked, concern lacing her features.

Morrigan clutched her head as she sat up, earning a groan of pain from the sudden movement. "Like the morning after shore-leave. How long was I out?"

"About 16 hours. Captain Anderson has us going towards the Citadel as we speak. I noticed as you were out, you were displaying rapid eye movements, a sign of dreaming…"

Morrigan took a moment to remember what she was dreaming about. "I saw…I don't know what I saw. It felt like…death…a warning. I can't really make it out."

"It's my fault Commander, I must have activated some kind of security field when I approached it." Kaidan apologized. Morrigan gave a look to the Lieutenant, his eyes were red and he was showing signs of sleep deprivation. _'Did he seriously stay at my bedside the whole time? I'd almost think it was sweet if I wasn't already with someone._ ' She thought, almost pitying the man.

"Its fine, you had no way to know what would happen." Morrigan comforted, though she felt slightly uncomfortable with Kaidan, with him knowing of her relationship status.

"Unfortunately we may not even know if that was ever the case. The beacon exploded after you activated, the blast knocked you unconscious." Chakwas commented, lament lacing her tone, she had been hoping to study the beacon if not just to figure out what it had done to Morrigan.

The doors to the med bay slid open revealing Anderson, concern written on her face. "How's our XO, doc?" He asked quickly before he noticed Shepard already sitting up in her bed.

"Perfectly fine, actually. She's fit for duty." Chakwas replied enthusiastically.

"Excellent, can we have a moment?"

Chakwas quickly left while Kaidan gave a salute, "I'll be in the mess if you need me."

Anderson gave a nod watching the two leaving before he turn to the closest thing he had to a daughter. "How are you feeling Morrigan?"

"Like someone cracked opened my head, rearranged everything inside and a shit job at putting me back together." She joked, though the throbbing headache she felt still remained. "What happened to Gunnery Chief Williams?"

"Chief Williams is fine, I've had her reassigned to the Normandy. I figured we could use a soldier with her skill." Anderson replied.

Morrigan gave a weak smile, "Good. She's a good soldier and it seemed a waste for her to be on that kind of work."

"It is strange though, despite her spotless record, she has perfect scores in all test and received exemplary remarks from her superiors but has never been taken off the ground and never being even considered for a promotion. With the kind of performance she has, she should be Lieutenant by now." Anderson commented, a slight frown showing on his face. He half suspected someone in the brass had a dislike for the young woman and deliberately held her back.

"It is strange, but hopefully her work on the Normandy will change that."

"Let's hope so. Anyways, we'll be coming up on the Citadel soon and we'll have to report to the Council."

Morrigan groaned at this news, she had looked forward to going to the Citadel so soon, hopefully James would still be there on shore-leave. She however, did not like the idea of talking to the Council. They always looked down on her despite her skill as a soldier succeeding that of a few of their Spectres. They would never believe her and Anderson when they reveal Saren's treachery. "What can we show them to prove Saren turned traitor? I had a bad dream?" She mock asked.

"We still have to try. Saren's a ruthless bastard, but one of the best Spectres, they have to believe us."

"Captain, we're docking at the Citadel now." Joker's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Well, no rest for the wicked eh?" Morrigan quipped, a smirk lacing her features.

"Very true. Come, we have to meet with Ambassador Udina before we go to the Council." Anderson then ushered Morrigan to don her N7 armor before having Williams and Alenko follow them. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

To be blunt, it was _not_ a good day. The Council had completely shut down Shepard, Anderson, and Udina's accusations of Saren's treason. Morrigan was not happy to say the least and she very much needed a drink. Thankfully, it was right in the way to meet a C-Sec officer by the name of Harkin.

That led her, Ashley, and Kaidan to Chora's Den. It wasn't a bad place Morrigan though, though she much preferred Purgatory more, but if she could catch a quick drink, she'd be happy enough.

"Well well, aren't you a pretty little thing." A lustful male voice rang right behind her. That didn't help her mood any, she turned towards the voice and it showed a bald man with an unshaven face. _'Must be Harkin_ ' Morrigan thought before the man continued. "How about you take a seat with little old me?" he patted his lap, ignoring the look of a disgust that appeared on Morrigan's face and the look of anger on Kaidan's, while Ashley remained indifferent.

"Not interested." Morrigan stated plainly before gulping a shot of whiskey she ordered. _'Why do everyone hit on me while I'm at a bar?_ ' She thought to herself, she half thanked the news of the picture some passerby took of her and James hoping it would take away the amount of men and occasionally women, who approached her. Apparently that didn't deter some.

"Come on. Let ol' Harkin show you a good time." Harkin slurred as he grabbed Morrigan's hand. A big mistake as Morrigan promptly grabbed his hand with her free hand and twisted it, a slight crack sounding; earning a cry of pain from the slightly drunken man. "Agh! You bitch!"

Morrigan jerked his hand slightly for the commented earning another cry of pain. "How about you tell me where a C-Sec officer named Garrus is?"

Harkin was visibly sweating and apparently sobered immediately, much to the slight amusement to Kaidan and Ashley. "He…I don't know…fuck! He went to some clinic in the Wards. Something about…a Quarian on the Citadel." Harkin panted out, trying to ignore the pain in his hand.

Morrigan let go of Harkin's hand, the man immediately clutching his hand, attempting to nurse it in order to soothe the pain. "Alright, let's go find Garrus."

"Well, Lola, you can indeed to take care of yourself." A teasing voice sounded to her right as she turned to leave Chora's Den. She turned along with her squad mates to see James walking towards her.

Morrigan's day immediately brightened. She hadn't expected to run into James here, of all places. She quickly found herself rushing towards to the muscular man, throwing herself into his arms; much to the jealousy of Kaidan. "I didn't think you'd be on the Citadel. Not here anyways."

James unwrapped his arms from Morrigan before replying, "I heard the Normandy just docked and when I heard gunfire coming from the wards, I figured it was you and came down here myself. I guess I was correct." James finished with a grin.

"Uh huh, I bet you were just following me." Morrigan teased before she turned to her squad mates, "Guys, this is James Vega, a friend of mine."

Ashley gained a look of mischief on her face. "I think he's more than that, _Commander_." She teased, earning a slight blush from the woman. "Nice to meet you Vega."

"You as well _chica_." James thanked before he turned to the Lieutenant, seeing his look of indifference. He immediately found he was unsettled by the Lieutenant, almost as if Alenko felt threatened by his appearance. "And you?"

"Kaidan Alenko." Came the L2's curt response, earning a confused look from James, Ashley, and Morrigan. He didn't act like this a few minutes ago.

"Is he always like this, Lola?" James asked quietly so that only she and Ashley heard him.

Morrigan frowned, "No, he's normally very respectful. Though he seems tense when my personal life is brought up." It was as the words left her mouth did she realize that Kaidan likely held a crush for her. ' _This might be trouble_.'

"Should I feel threatened?" James asked, humor lacing his tone again.

Morrigan grinned up at James, "As if you could ever get rid of me that easily."

"Commander, I don't wish to be rude, but we are pressed for time." Kaidan interjected. He didn't want to come off as rude, but his words held truth.

Morrigan nodded in affirmation, "Very well. We should be going James, unless you want to come along."

James shrugged, "Sure, I've nothing to do anyways, Toni only wanted to talk about the Privates yesterday, but we have another two days of shore leave."

"I don't think that's an option Vega. You're not properly suited and you're off duty." Kaidan retorted.

"Not properly suited? I think he's suited enough to take bullets, given the muscles on him." Ashley flirted in good fun. She knew better that James was taken.

"See Lola? I told you no woman can resist these guns!" James cockily stated as she flexed her arms to add to his point. Said point being found if Ashley's staring was any indication.

Morrigan shook her head, a smile lacing her features, she didn't know James all that well, but she was quickly deciding the more she found out about him, the more she liked him. That upbeat nature of his was something she very much enjoyed. She dropped the smile as she turned to the somewhat jealous Lieutenant. "Anyways Alenko, the final say is mine and I say if he wishes to help, I'll allow it, his lack of armor will be his own doing if he gets wounded. Now let's move out." Kaidan took the lead, knowing off the top of his head where the clinic Harkin mentioned earlier was, followed by Ashley, Morrigan, and then James. "Oh, by the way, Williams," Morrigan whispered as she caught up to Ashley ahead of her, "Eyes off my man." She finished with a mock threat, her voice being of a slight teasing tone.

Ashley's face flushed slightly, knowing she was caught by her Commander at checking James out. She nodded as she turned her head back to Kaidan who led them out of Chora's Den.

* * *

The first Human Spectre. It still hadn't full sunk in yet. Earlier today she was almost willing to bash Councilor heads but now she was almost humbled that they saw their mistakes and rectified it by making her a Spectre.

Commander Shepard. First Human Spectre. Yeah, she liked the ring of that. To her disappointment, Anderson had more or less been 'convinced' to resign as the Commanding Officer to the Normandy and instead gave it to her; claiming it to be the perfect ship for her as she already knew the crew.

She had toyed with the idea of commanding her own ship. She thought she'd do ground deployments for another 10 or so years before she got her own ship. By then she would be somewhat old and she could just command others. It was a slightly pleasant thought at the time. Now…it just left a strange in her mouth. She gained such a position almost…a decade at least, earlier than she'd expected. It didn't help that the circumstances surrounded her 'promotion' to the Commanding Officer to the SSV Normandy were the effect of 'backdoor politics' as Joker had put it.

Nonetheless she took the promotion in stride or so she made it seem to the crew who didn't know her that well. She did have a mission after all: Stop Saren and the Geth. The only delay she now had was waiting for one final last-minute recruit to the Normandy's crew.

As if right on cue, the Normandy's decontamination sounded before the doors slid open revealing freshly promoted Lieutenant James Vega. She was overjoyed when Anderson had talked Admiral Hackett and Captain Toni about transferring James to the Normandy; the former being achieved as he closely watched Morrigan as she grew up, watching out for her when he could so when Anderson told him of James, he decided to bend the rules, just this once.

"Permission to come aboard, Commander?" James saluted, professionalism showing in his posture, voice, and face.

Morrigan gave a teasing smile. "Well, you're already onboard, _Lieutenant_ , not like I can throw you out the airlock without the Alliance hearing about it." It had just occurred to her that she never asked what James rank was, not that it really bothered her. She shook her head mentally as she introduced him to Joker, "Lieutenant Vega, this is Flight Lieutenant Moreau."

Joker scoffed slightly at his title, "Just call me Joker. Everyone else does." He greeted in a slightly jovial voice. "Ehm…don't' expect to get up. I might break a hip."

James was confused as the last part of his statement, turning to Morrigan for clarification. Vrolik's Syndrome or Brittle Bone Disease he was told, and he slightly winced. It must have been hard for him to make it this far.

"Commander, you wished to see me?" Kaidan's voice sounded, startling the trio slightly.

"Yes, actually. Vega, go meet the rest of the crew, pick a bunk and get comfortable, if you have trouble getting around ask one of the crew. They'll help you." Morrigan answered, before ordering James. Once James had left the cockpit, she ushered Kaidan to follow her out of earshot of Joker; only walking slightly down the bridge between the cockpit and the CIC. "Alenko, is this going to be a problem?"

Kaidan cocked an eyebrow in an attempt to feign ignorance. "What do you mean, ma'am?"

Morrigan winced at the title, "Is Lieutenant Vega being a part of this crew going to be a problem."

Kaidan tried to keep the disdain out of his voice, "No, Commander. I'm only worried about your relationship with him."

"Speak freely Lieutenant." Morrigan ordered, seeing as Kaidan wasn't going to come clean otherwise.

Kaidan relaxed slightly, before he laid on his worries. "Frankly, I don't think he should be a part of the crew. Putting aside his relationship with you, he seems…green."

Morrigan frowned, "You should know it was Anderson who convinced Hackett and Vega's CO to transfer him to the Normandy. You've seen his skills when he helped up with Doctor Michel and Tali. He's no greenhorn. What aren't you telling me?"

Kaidan sighed, "Commander, I just don't think it's a good idea to be in a relationship with one of your own crew."

Morrigan was slowly to visibly get upset, starting to regret bringing up this discussion with the biotic, "James and I are soldiers, and we will not let our feelings get in the way of the mission. Regardless, last I checked there wasn't anything according to regulations regarding pre-established relationships, specifically with a Spectre. You're arguments are falling flat Lieutenant."

Kaidan fumbled his words a bit at the retort, "I…well…"

"Because you're such a better man for me than he is." Morrigan blurted out, seeing the shocked expression showing on Kaidan's face, "I've seen how you look at me, _Lieutenant,_ I find it humorous that you would disapprove of my relationship with James, even bring up regulations when you yourself were desiring such a thing."

Kaidan's words were lost at the sight of the upset woman before him, he had been seen through and through. It was almost humiliated. "I…I apologize Commander. I understand if you no longer wish me a part of the crew."

Morrigan's anger quickly receded at seeing the L2 biotic's ashamed look on his face. "No no. That's not necessary Alenko. You're still a valuable part of this crew and despite what just happened, I still consider you a friend." She comforted, she was upset briefly with Kaidan's jealousy of her relationship with James, but she held no actual hatred towards Kaidan.

Kaidan's face brightened, even cracking a small smile. "Thank you, Commander."

Morrigan smiled, "It's no problem, but please don't pull that again. Also you might want to talk to James, he seems uneasy with you."

Kaidan nodded, as he quickly took off to find James, hoping not to start their future partnership on shaky grounds.

"Who knew the cold hearted Commander Shepard could be so comforting?!" Jokers teased form the cockpit of the Normandy, apparently hearing her and Kaidan talk through the ship's comms.

"Do you ever not hear anything, Joker?" Morrigan asked, finding herself smiling despite the fact that Joker had overheard everything she said.

"I have my moments. Have no fear though, I'll be sure to listen in on the juicy bits between you and Vega."

Morrigan flushed slightly, knowing very well that if she and James were intimate on the ship Joker would likely both be able to see _and_ hear them; even if she had her own cabin now. "You're lucky I like you so much Joker, otherwise, you might have an accident with your legs."

"Wow, threatening a cripple. That's real manly"

Morrigan smirked evilly, despite knowing Joker probably couldn't see her expression. "Well, good thing I'm a _woman_."

"I would have thought differently before you met James." Morrigan took a moment to think at that statement. Had she really changed since meeting James? She did feel more…free at letting herself indulge on her desires for once and the fact that James himself was fascinating to her had helped.

She gave up, perhaps he did change her. "I'll give you that one, Joker. Anyways, set course for the Artemis Tau cluster. We're going to find this Dr. T'Soni, she will hopefully be able to help us against Benezia.

"Aye, aye, Commander." With that, the intercom went silent as Morrigan left to see how James was settling in. On that thought, she had better check in to see how the rest of her crew were.

' _So much to do…so little time._ ' She thought with a sigh.

* * *

One of the misconceptions of being a soldier was that it was constant battle after battle. It was false for the most part. In fact, at times there was a lot of downtime and being a soldier, Morrigan was feeling restless. They had already retrieved Liar from Prothean ruins on Therum but surprisingly the Geth were already there, waiting for them.

' _Well, not exactly waiting…_ ' Morrigan mused to herself as she got out of the elevator to the Crew deck, walking to the mess, only to see James at the counters making food with Kaidan at the table.

"Hey Commander." Kaidan greeted with a smile.

James heard the greeting and turned from the stove he was cooking food at, "Hey Lola!"

Morrigan smiled, it seemed the two were getting along, if at least on the surface. "Hello Kaidan. James. What are you cooking?"

" _Huevos Rancheros_!" James answered proudly. " _Mi abuela_ taught me how to cook them. I'm told they're good, and they taste fine to me, but they're nothing to my _abuela's_."

Morrigan closed the distance, taking in the smell of the food. "It smells wonderful!"

James gave his thanks in appreciation, pulling one arm around Morrigan's shoulders and pulling her close into a hug.

Kaidan gave a slight wince at the scene before him. He tried to accept it, that Morrigan was out of his reach, especially after he pulled the regulation's card on her. "Where are we heading to next, Commander?"

Morrigan broke the embrace from James before turning to him. "You don't have to keep calling me Commander when we're not on missions. Just Shepard will do. Anyways, we're heading to Feros first, there's signs of Geth activity there and it make give us a clue to what Saren is after. "

Kaidan nodded as Morrigan gave her attention back to James, proceeded to drool over his cooking. She tried his eggs before and he somehow made them taste much better than anything she could ever whip up on a whim; let alone anything she'd ever ordered out. She didn't think she was a terrible cook, but it definitely wasn't her strong suit.

In a few minutes, James had set out three plates each with a hefty amount of food for the three of them. He hadn't originally intended to cook for three, but he wasn't about to leave Kaidan or Morrigan to go hungry; especially not the latter.

Kaidan took a few bites and took a moment to assess the taste. "You have yourself a talent there James." He complimented genuinely before turning to Morrigan who had taken a seat at the table across to him, next to James and had already begun wolfing down her food. "He's a keeper, Shepard."

James gave a mock look of hurt. "You mean you were never going to keep me?"

Morrigan narrowed her eyes as she met James' playful gaze with her own, "If you couldn't cook. No."

Kaidan laughed at the scene before him. He had known Morrigan for a few months prior to his own assignment to the Normandy but he never seen her act freely around anyone, especially men. It was refreshing to see that one such man enabled her, even if he wasn't it.

"Commander, we'll be arriving at Feros in approximately one hour." Joker's voice sounded in the mess hall.

Morrigan sighed, "Well, get ready then. Suit up you two, I'm taking you groundside with me." Morrigan stated, entering her 'Commander-Mode', as she stood up from the table to leave.

Kaidan and James nodded as they too got up from the table to prepare for the mission.

* * *

Slimy, tired and sore. The three adjectives James would describe his current state as he finally felt the hot shower water hit his body. It was a feeling that made him feel alive again, in a sense. " _Dios mio._ Never thought I'd miss the simple feeling of a shower." He mused to himself quietly, deciding that he would take a slightly longer shower than normal.

He was startled when he felt bare, slender, arms wrap around his waist, feeling something soft press against his back. "Nothing like a nice hot shower after a mission huh?" a feminine voice purred in his ear.

James grinned slightly as he turned to see Morrigan, just as naked as he, smirking up at him. "Lola...you do know that this is the men's showers right?"

"Well, good thing I'm the Commanding Officer of this ship huh?" Morrigan replied as she ran her hands up James' abs, "Besides, we're the only ones in here."

James' grabbed Morrigan's arms and pulled them away from him before turning to face the woman; pulling her fully under the water with him. "A continuation from _that_ day?"

Morrigan tugged her arms free before wrapping them around James' neck. "As much as I'd like to, maybe not here. The crew may not mind my relationships but the 'public' showers is a bit much." They stood there a moment, staring right into each other's eyes, completely forgetting the usage of the water. Finally, Morrigan sighed. "We'll be at Noveria in a little while. Might want to catch some rest."

"Throw in someone sleeping with me and I might." James grinned in reply.

Morrigan gave a grin of her own before she unwound her from James' neck and stepped back. "10 minutes, _Lieutenant_." She replied, as she turned and walked away with a seductive sway of her hips.

"You're going to be the death of me Lola."

Morrigan grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her; fiddling with it to cover the important bits as it was one of the smaller variant of towels that she grabbed unintentionally. "Then you better keep up, James." She cooed in reply before walking out of sight; the sound of the door sliding open indicating she had fully left.

* * *

Normally, aboard the Normandy, everyone was fairly upbeat. At the very least, people put up a happy front. This was the first time James had felt the atmosphere become so somber, not that he could blame the crew. The Normandy had lost a very important person of her crew. He was friends with her, though her interest in him bordered unprofessional if her flirting was any indication. He had made it clear that he wasn't interested and she knew it, but continued the playful banter nonetheless. In that, he considered her a friend and it helped she shared his enjoyment to mess with guns; always trying to improve upon them.

The Normandy had lost her. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams.

Shepard and Alenko had taken it especially hard; particularly Shepard. He saw how close the two got, almost likening them to sisters with how they bantered with each other.

Virmire had started off relatively simple. Land, find the Salarian team, and leave. But it never is that simple. AA guns kept the Normandy from taking off and they learned Saren had found a cure for the Genophage that plagued the Krogan and was creating a Krogan army. Not that he didn't quickly learn that no mission with Shepard would be simple, but the situation with leaving one of the crew to arm the Nuke to destroy the breeding facility and another to help lead a distraction team was not something he'd ever want to make the call of himself.

Ashley had been selected to arm the nuke. Initially Kaidan had been the ideal candidate to arm to nuke given his tech skills, but Shepard had decided he'd better work in the distraction team. He was much more experienced in combat and his biotic skills were invaluable. Everything went downhill when the Geth came in waves at both points and Shepard had to make the hardest decision to-date in her career. She had to leave one behind.

She chose Kaidan. The Normandy crew knew she didn't pick him due to favorites but because saving Kaidan saved the surviving members of the Salarian team. It didn't make the final words he heard over comms anymore easier of Morrigan and Ashley's last words to each other.

He found the mess strangely void of life at this time, it was barely early into the night cycle for the Normandy and only one person was there. One _very_ drunk Morrigan Shepard.

"Lola? You ok?" James asked as noticed the woman slumped over the table with multiple empty bottles of alcohol next to her, some of which were of kinds he never heard of.

Morrigan gave a prominent hic before she raised her face towards him; her face sporting a prominent flush due to the consumption of alcohol. "Honestly….no." before she brought the half empty bottle that was in her hand and brought it to her lips; guzzling it down.

James' grabbed the bottle and slid it out of her reach; ignoring Morrigan's humorous response to drunkenly whine and try to grab it across the table. "I think you've had enough, Lola."

Morrigan pouted in defeat before her gaze turned somber. She just wanted to drink herself under and forget about Ashley or Virmire in general. She could already tell it was one of those experience that would haunt her for the rest of her days. "I hope you have a better plan to help me forget…" she mumbled in response.

James' promptly put the now remaining one-third of the bottle away, before he returned to Morrigan and lifted her at her armpits before picking her up fully in his arms. "I have an idea. How about I give you a massage."

Morrigan gave a slight giggle, momentarily forgetting her sorrows, "Oh? And who taught you how to do that?"

"Remember my friend's older sister I told you about?" Morrigan nodded slightly, "She occasionally asked if I would give her a massage, in exchange she would spend the day with me and her brother when she had free time."

"Well then, take me to my cabin then…" Morrigan ushered, not actually able to perform the gesture as she was held in James' arms. She saw his questioning gaze. "What?"

"I don't know where that is?"

Morrigan raised an eyebrow as best she could before she went to answer him; only to have her mouth hang open. She had, in her extremely drunken state, forgotten where her cabin was. "Um…I can't remember?"

James' shook his head in amusement; a small smile gracing his face. "Then where at?"

Morrigan took a moment to think as James began walking them to the elevator, only stopping him short of entering the elevator, a smirk gracing her features as she leaned her mouth to his ears, "The main battery is vacant from what I know."

James felt heat rush to his face. The main battery wasn't exactly often visited by the average passerby, but Garrus had taken to adjusting the main guns when he wasn't modifying the Mako. It was easy for someone to just stumble in and catch them. He shrugged to himself mentally. Might as well. "Alright, Lola. Main battery it is." With that he quickly turned and walked back towards the mess, passing it, and walking past the sleeper pods before opening the door to the main battery. He set Morrigan down against a chair that was in the corner of the room, "Wait here, I'll be back with something to lay on and the rest.

Morrigan watched with drunkenly amused expression as James left the main battery to hurry across the ship to the Crew Quarters to grab his 'things'. It amazed how quickly he could alleviate her sorrow, especially from both a tragic and recent event. James' returned quickly with two relatively thick blankets, one presumably so she could lay on the floor relatively comfortable and the other so James could sit down as well as he worked around her. As for what was in the bag however, she guessed she would find out.

"Alright, I'll need you to take off your clothes."

Morrigan gave the Lieutenant a lustful gaze, "You're just trying to get me naked again, aren't you?"

James gave his own grin. "Wasn't my intention, but now that you mention it…"

Morrigan giggled to herself before she quickly pulled her top up and off before standing up, kicking off her boots before shimmying out of her BDU trousers; leaving her in matching white lace bra and panties. She eyed the way James was looking her over with a hungry gaze. She _loved_ it. Averting her eyes away, she soon brought her hands to her back to unclasp her bra, just letting it fall off onto the floor, kicking it to the pile of clothes to the side of the room before turning her back to James; bending over seductively as she hooked her fingers around her panties before pulling them down slowly.

It took all of James' will to not just have his way with Morrigan right there. Thankfully he was able to ignore the view in front of him as he laid the blanket out of the floor before folding the second one up to serve as a pad. "Alright, lay down with your backside up."

Morrigan complied, as she stepped over him, noticing his gaze return to her chest, watching her breast bounce slightly with the few steps she took before she laid down on the blanket. Morrigan decided to rest her head on her arms, opting to only move them if James had requested so she could rest her eyes. It took a quick minute as she heard a bag being unzipped and a small 'clasp' sounding about in the room before she felt something _very cold_ poor onto her back.

Morrigan jumped slightly with a yelp at the cold liquid only to quickly relax back into the floor when she felt James' rough hands on her lower back, lathering the liquid into her skin; pressing into **just** **the right** spots on her back, earning a moan from her.

"Like that Lola?" James asked as he worked his hands up Morrigan's back, all dirty thoughts being momentarily erased from his mind, only focusing on relieving the tension in Morrigan's body.

"Mmm, yeah. It feels amazing." Morrigan groaned her reply as she felt James squeeze his hands slightly on her shoulders, right next to her neck. That felt _amazing_. ' _I think I found my next favorite thing to do with James_.' She thought to herself.

James brought his hands back down to the middle of her back, gripping his hands at either sides before he pressed his thumbs in slightly causing the woman underneath him to squirm. The moan signaling him that he hit a spot that he needed to focus on. "You ever have a massage before, Lola?"

"Mmm…no, not really. The most I've had was someone rubbing my shoulders after a long workout while in the N7 program." Morrigan replied, slowly started to feel consciousness fade away at James' touch. He hadn't even worked half her body yet and she was already feeling extremely relaxed. Though her drift into consciousness was ended quickly when he felt James pour more of the liquid on her ass before he started to knead each cheek sensually.

The more he massaged her, the more James' noticed how wet she was getting, he was already seeing a slight wet spot on the blanket beneath her slick folds. "You're getting wet."

"I can't help it when you massage my ass."

James smirked as he removed his hands, earning a whine from the woman beneath him before turning his attention to her thighs and calves; opting to hurry along before he lost himself to temptation. Regardless of his efforts, he couldn't hold his temptation long before he ushered Morrigan to turn over onto her back. The view he got was not an easy sight to resist groping.

He had never really taken to looking at Morrigan's naked body in great detail, their first time(s) being erratic and unplanned, with their lustful tryst after their 'shower' being much the same; he felt sorry for the random male's bunk they did it on. In all the battles she'd fought in, he'd expected much more scarring on her body but to his surprise, there wasn't much on her in terms of scars. He wasn't sure if she had them surgically removed, her armor protected her _that_ well or she was just that lucky for when her wounds healed.

He shook his head, trying to clear his head as he grabbed the bottle, next to him, popping the cap on it again before pouring it right on Morrigan's flat stomach. "Cold!"

James smirked, only pour a bit more over her breast to further bring out more yelps from the woman before he decided to finish the job. He put the bottle to the side before bring his hands down to the side of Morrigan's stomach, pushing his thumbs down much in the same way he worked her back; only going more easy. By this point, he could tell Morrigan was thoroughly aroused if her erect nipples and labored breathing were of any indication. Nonetheless he went on, taking a special pleasure in that this almost seemed like torture to her. He ran a hand up the valley between her breasts, only applying pressure _around_ them and never directly; deciding to savor it, then he worked at her shoulders again; taking a brief moment to lean down give her a chaste kiss before finally bringing his hands onto her breast.

"Aaaah…" Morrigan moaned out as she felt James 'massaging' her chest. At this point she more felt like he was just groping her and calling it a massage, but regardless it had the intended affect to relax her; though it had the unintended…or was it intentional on his part, to turn her on. Despite her thoughts, James never went further than just using his hands, only bringing his mouth near her erect buds just enough for her to feel his breath, but not enough to touch. It drove her _wild_. "James…stop teasing me."

The muscular man above her only tried to smile in innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about, Lola."

"I need it…" Morrigan moaned as she lifted her hand to paw at the bulge in James' BDUs.

James grinned. If he was honest with himself, he had no actual intention of things getting this heated from the massage. He had truly been only wanting to give her a massage, though he should have figured having such a perfect woman spread out naked below him as he touch her body would have a side effect such as this. He took on hand off of her breast as he sensually ran it down her stomach, across the small amount of hair she had grown down there, before resting his thumb on her clit; his two middle fingers prodding at her opening. "You sure, Lola? You won't be able to get the full massage." He asked that, but he knew the massage was over the moment he saw how wet Morrigan was getting from his touches.

Morrigan's eyes narrowed as she turned her body slightly only to be somewhat startled by how much the sudden movement had caused James' hand _down there_ to rub against her. It had started before she could realize what was happening as she felt the throws of her first orgasm coming on already; her back arching off the blanket and soaking James' hand when she felt her own juices spraying out from her core. The result was her a quivering mess under James with his thumb rubbing against her swollen nub to prolong her orgasm; the poor blanket underneath her now a much darker shade than before.

James looked on with slight surprise at how little it had taken to spark Morrigan's first orgasm and it wasn't intentionally his or her doing. One simple movement had caused it. It had especially surprised her when she squirted all over his hand and soaking the blanket beneath him; he had never seen a woman do that before. Then again, he never massaged one before bringing them to climax before.

It took a moment for Morrigan to regain rational thought; her breathing slowly becoming steady as her gaze refocused on James'. When she was finally in control of her actions, without a word she attempted to turn again, ignoring the spark of pleasure from James rubbing his hand on her clit, as she brought both hands to James' trousers, unfastening them with a heated desperation. "Come on James…I want it." She huskily breathed out as she tried in futility to reach James' cock due to him still sitting on his knees.

In retort, James straightened out, resting his hands at either side of Morrigan's, staring down at her with equal lust written on his face. "How badly?"

Since he was relatively straightened out, Morrigan desperately pulled at James' BDUs and boxers, freeing his manhood before trying to position herself under him, "No foreplay. Fuck me now." She begged as she even grabbed at James and aligned the tip at her entrance; eagerly waiting for James to push into her.

James initially thought to toy with Morrigan some more, but she was basically begging him to take her and he equally wanted this so he saw no reason to delay. With that he slammed into Morrigan's warmth, straight to the base, earning a whimper of pleasure. It was the volume of her whimper that made James realize they were in the Normandy's main battery, just on the other side of the sleeping pods; and he'd wager the walls weren't very soundproof. He would just have to hope they were both quiet enough as he couldn't wait any longer; he extracted himself, only leaving the tip inside of Morrigan before he pushed back in. This time Morrigan's whimper was of a higher volume.

"They might hear us Lola." James warned huskily into Morrigan's ear, stopping his thrusting motions for a brief moment.

Morrigan slowly wrapped her arms around James' back, following by her legs to his waist before giving him his reply. "I don't care, don't stop." she cooed into his ear. Her lust induced state erasing rational thought. James began to resume his thrusting, starting off slow, much to Morrigan's slight annoyance, before he began to pick up speed, the sounds of flesh slapping together sounding about the room.

"Ah…James…James…." Morrigan moaned out, the name of the man on top of her becoming her favorite word. Emptiness washed over her as she felt James extract herself fully, "What? Don't stop!" She protested slightly louder than she had intended. Her only response from James was him unwrapping her arms and legs before he turned her over onto her stomach; pulling at her waist, raising her ass to him. He gave Morrigan a moment to get adjusted as he watched her hold herself up with her hands and knees before she turned her head to him, swaying her ass in indication she was ready.

James took no time as he quickly buried himself into Morrigan's pussy, an unintended cry of pleasure ringing out as James started to piston into her slick folds as best he could, given how tight she was clenching at him. "Damn Lola, if you keep squeezing me so tight…"

Morrigan groaned in pleasure, "Good, I'm about to as well…"

James in haste pulled at Morrigan's hair, the slight pain causing the woman to moan louder as her back was pulled back into his chest; continuing to thrust up inside her with Morrigan adding her own downwards thrust. "Where?"

Morrigan reached her head around James head as she brought his head down as best she could to kiss him deeply, before pulling away, "I want to feel it inside again."

If James wasn't overcome by his carnal desire to plant his seed into Morrigan at that moment, he would have hesitated given that he and Shepard had not used any forms of protection since their first time; at least, none that he knew of on his end. The couple picked up speed in their own respective thrust, desperately trying to maintain the kiss through it all before they reached their respective climaxes together.

The two groaned, well, Morrigan cried her release, as she clenched down tightly to milk James for all his worth as the Lieutenant exploded inside of her; stretching her womb at the copious amounts of sperm he emptied into her. The two pushed against each other slightly, extending their respective highs slightly before they had to embrace rational thought again. "You know Lieutenant, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're trying to get me pregnant." Morrigan purred as she felt James pulse the last of his orgasm.

James grinned in response, knowing equally well who requested what towards the end. That is, before it dawned on him. "Damn, we haven't used protection."

Morrigan quickly alleviated James worries with a kiss, before raising off of his softening member; immediately cupping her pussy as she started to feel James' seed spill out of her. "Don't worry, I have an implant that prevents me from ovulating." She clarified, seeing the look of relief wash over him. She was slightly disappointed with that, though she could understand his relief. "Though, if I ever did get pregnant, you'd stay right?"

James didn't have to think before he said, "Yes." Truthfully, he loved children and very much desired to have some of his own someday; though he felt he wasn't quite ready. Nonetheless he wasn't about to walk out on a woman he got pregnant. "Though I must ask, does it come with marriage?" He asked with a grin.

Morrigan's face went completely red at the implication. She'd only been with James for a few months _tops_. She had lost track of time during their pursuit of Saren and she wasn't sure if she and James were at that stage of their relationship to think about marriage. Though she could see the reasoning behind it if an unexpected pregnancy occurred. She decided that in the future, if they were still together, the idea of marriage wasn't so bad. "Maybe." She answered with a slight grin. Her grin however, was soon replaced with a sad smile, "Thank you James."

James face contorted in confusion. "What for"

"For helping me forget, even if it did boil down to sex."

James scratched his head sheepishly, "I hadn't intended for it to come to that honestly, and it's no problem. Anything for you."

Morrigan removed her hand from her pussy, wiping her hand on the soaked blanket before wrapping her arms around James, pulling him into a hug. "Take me to my cabin."

James promptly pulled on his trousers, boots, and shirt before he picked Morrigan up in his arms, having her cover herself with the still-dry blanket he used as a cushion earlier to cover herself; Morrigan not caring to put her clothes back on. "Sober enough to remember where it is, _Commander?_ "

"Indeed I am, _Lieutenant_." Morrigan replied as James opened the door to the sleeper pods, grinning mischievously as she was carried naked, covered only by a blanket, past some of the sleeping crew; forgetting her clothes and the other items of their adventure as she gave James directions to her cabin.

* * *

 **Oh, before I get too far into the story, no there will not be Lemons every chapter. Now, I don't hate Kaidan at all, admittedly I find his character a bit boring in Mass Effect 1, but I still like him. As far as relationships go, I never did a romance with him, mostly because fanfiction has slightly twisted my views due to Shepard/Vega. This fic is strictly Shepard/Vega, Kaidan only being there for the brief confrontation. As I said before, this story will quickly go through Mass Effect 1 & 2, and will only get 'deep' towards the 3rd game. There will be some slight deviation but still follows loosely to the story. Next chapter will hopefully get towards the end of Mass Effect 1 (if not the very end). Anyways, if you like the story so far, feel free to favorite or leave a review. If you have questions or suggestions, leave that in the review as well or shoot me a PM, I'll be sure to answer it. See ya later!**


	3. The End is Nigh

**Hello again everyone! Here is Chapter 3! This chapter will finish up Mass Effect 1 and will set me up for Mass Effect 2. Hopefully I don't move the story along too fast for those of you who like more indepth plot. But as I said before this story is mostly Vega/Shepard centric. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **One Night Changed It All**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3: The End is Nigh**_

Morrigan prided herself with her ability to keep her emotions under control. She faced endless waves of Geth with a calm expression, watched friends die, innocents die. No outburst of emotion. But now, when it seemed the Council had truly abandoned her, even locking down the Normandy to prevent her from going to Ilos to confront Saren, she lost it.

The poor locker never stood a chance, now scattered parts of a M-98 Widow were on the floor followed by some spare pieces of her N7 Armor, but she couldn't bring herself to care in this moment. Saren was going to get away and get to the Conduit first. With a final solid hit to her locker, Morrigan quickly found her rage and strength leave her as she turned her back to the locker and slumped to the floor.

' _Damn council!'_

Morrigan wasn't sure how long she sat there, looking miserable, her knees brought to her chest, burying her face in between. It must have been some time for she heard the familiar footsteps of James walking to her.

"You okay Lola?" he stood next to her, watching down at her with a concerned expression; taking in her appearance as she looked up at him.

"What do you think, Lieutenant?" Morrigan half snorted back before looking at the slight hurt expression that flashed on James' face. She didn't intend for the words to come out the way they did. James did nothing to her. Hell, he did everything he could for her. He didn't deserve the spiteful answer he got. "I'm sorry…that was uncalled for. It's just…Saren is so close. So Close! And the Council refuses to let us go after him!"

"I understand you're upset, Commander, but look at it from their perspective. Saren isn't exactly in Alliance space. Our presence there could spark another war."

This time, Morrigan had meant the gaze she gave James, "And we'll get a war regardless if we don't stop Saren from bring the Reapers back."

James rubbed his eyes; he's gone more than 48 hours without an ounce of shut-eye, it was getting to him, especially if his quick irritation of Morrigan was a clue. "And I see you're point, but you have to understand there's no concrete proof of the Reapers. I believe you Lola. Anderson believes you. The crew of the Normandy believe you. But we're just a handful of people to trillions of others." He crouched down a bit as he extended his hand to Morrigan, gesturing her to take his hand. "Come on, the floor doesn't suit you."

Morrigan gave a soft smile as she took the hand. "Thanks. But they don't believe me about the Reapers, they should at least let us go after the Reapers."

"And I agree with you, Commander." A different voice sounded, causing Morrigan and James to turn and see ex-Captain Anderson turn the corner and into their view. "I can understand their unrest, we're new. Unproven. A loose cannon. However, we can't sit idly by."

"What do you have in mind, Anderson?" Morrigan asked cautiously.

"Simple really. I can break into Udina's office and give you control of the Normandy again. It's that or I can sneak into the Council's tower." Anderson suggested.

"The tower will have guards, it's too dangerous." Morrigan protested before adding on, "Udina's office will have to work. But what if he's there?"

Anderson gave a grin, something Morrigan didn't see much of anymore. "Leave that to me, Shepard." Seeing no further protest from his essentially adopted-daughter and protégé, Anderson turned and walked towards the stairs to the CIC before calling out as he walked away, "Keep the Commander safe, Lieutenant. God knows if she's even partially right about all of this, we'll need her more than ever when the Reapers come."

James nodded, though he knew Anderson wouldn't see it as he was already walking up the stairs to the CIC, before he heard Morrigan speak. "Joker, looks like we're back in business."

"I heard and it's about damn time." Joker's enthusiastic voice rang over the intercom. "You can come up here and watch the faces of people when we steal the Normandy."

Morrigan gave a grin, before it quickly left her face. It had just dawned on her that she would be stealing the Normandy, putting her entire career, alongside that of everyone onboard the Normandy as well as Anderson's, on the line for this. It almost made her sick.

"You okay Lola?" James asked tenderly, seeing the paling expression of Morrigan's face.

Morrigan shook her head of the thoughts. She can't afford to fail now. "I'm fine James. I'm taking you and Garrus on the ground with me when we get to Ilos; be sure to tell Garrus." She ordered.

James gave a salute, "Yes ma'am!" before he ventured to the elevator to go down to where he knew Garrus is usually; working on the Mako.

Seeing James leave, Morrigan sighed to herself as she made her way up to the CIC then to the cockpit where Joker was always sitting; due to his condition. "Everything ready?"

Joker gave a slight snort in amusement. "As ready as I can be with the Normandy's systems locked down. You ready to become criminals?"

Morrigan tried to make the best of it. If she's going to break the rules and become a criminal, she could think of no better crew to do that with. She gave a slight grin. "Sure. I mean worst comes to worst we die trying to take down Saren. If we survive they'll **only** court-martial us."

"Only court-martialed? Hell, I should have gone rogue years ago." Joker joked back, almost missing the flash of green on his heads-up-display indicating the Normandy's systems were unlocked. "Here we go!" with that, Joker scrambled the Normandy into liftoff, hurriedly turning the ship and hightailing it out of the Citadel; less they get caught before they could leave.

"Next stop…Ilos." Morrigan commented, as she watched the familiar shape of a Mass Relay come into view from the cockpit.

"Yep." Joker replied, not saying anything else as he made the approach run to the Relay, before launching the ship at light speed towards Ilos. "E.T.A. 13 hours. Enough time to get some shut-eye. Better take it Commander. You and Vega have seen non-stop action these last few days."

"You going to be ok up here then?" Morrigan asked as he backed away from Jeff a bit, indicating she was intent on taking the pilot's suggestion.

"I mean, I can't exactly move very well and if I need some sleep I can sleep right here, the chair is comfortable enough. Besides, I have this super nice Commander who brings me up supper every once in a while." Joker replied with a grin.

Morrigan gave a soft laugh as she walked away from Joker, "G'night Flight-Lieutenant." She had hoped she could make a straight shot to her cabin, but fate was not to be as Kaidan came up the stairs towards her, "Alenko, need something?" She could see the look of annoyance at Kaidan, though it was faint.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering why I wasn't on the ground team for the mission. Vakarian and Vega are good soldiers sure, but I feel my skill set would be better suited for this mission than theirs." Morrigan couldn't fault Kaidan for his complaint. His logic was sound in that his Biotics were useful in a great many situations; namely why she took him on so many missions.

"Normally, Lieutenant, I quite agree. However this mission we're not quite able to plan out our team composition. James and Garrus are great at soaking up the gunfire and returning just as much. Tech skills are going to be fairly useless for this mission. Your Biotics are invaluable, yes, but there's a limit to how long you can use your abilities in quick succession. James and Garrus…they just keep going." She brought her hand to rest on Kaidan's shoulder, a weary, but soft smile, adorning her face. "It's nothing personal, Lieutenant."

Kaidan initially wanted to continue his protest, if not to win a position over James. The two were relatively friendly, though his jealousy over James being with Shepard rather than him never truly went away. It was the smile she gave him that silenced his upcoming protest. "I understand, Commander. Thanks for listening anyways."

"Anytime, Lieutenant. Now, I think I'm going to retire to my quarters for a while, I'm on my last legs here." She chuckled slightly, earning a soft laugh from Kaidan, as she said her goodbye to head towards her cabin. It was at her door, just as she was about to open it when she felt strong arms around her waist.

"What's our E.T.A. Commander?" James whispered huskily into her ear; causing a shiver to run down Morrigan's back at the tone of his voice.

Morrigan leaned back into James' chest as she brought her gaze up and gazed into James eyes; bring her hand up and around his head before pulling him down for a short kiss. "A little under 13 hours now."

James closed the gap between their lips again, causing Morrigan to moan slightly at the passion the kiss held. Just when it was getting heated between the two, James broke contact, much to Morrigan's displeasure; earning a small whine from the woman. "Got any plans?" James asked with a grin, knowing full what Morrigan's plans were likely to be.

"My bed…now." Morrigan ordered as she reach for the door to open it; the sound of the door opening to reveal her plain, dark room with a simple bed and desk in it. Just as she began to pull out of James' embrace he surprised her by once again picking her up bridal style and carried her to the bed.

"Are you sure Lola?" James teased as she laid the woman down softly on the bed.

"Well, seeing as tomorrow we could very well die. Might as well make the most of tonight." Morrigan replied as she arched her waist off the bed, hooking her fingers at the waistband of her pants before tugging them down her legs; revealing her N7 panties.

"We could have died any other day just as well, I think you're just saying that to get me in your bed."

Morrigan grinned at the man above her, who still only stood at her bedside, only leaning down slightly over her but not at all onto the bed or on top of her. "I've no idea what you're implying, Lieutenant."

" _Dios mio_ , you'll be the death of me, Lola." James shook his head with a smile before he crawled on the bed, on top of Shepard, his hands resting at either side of her head.

"I'd hardly think any other men would complain, given where and 'how' they would die." To hurry things along Morrigan began to run her hands around her body; beginning to knead her breast through the tank top and bra that she still wore, all the while staring right up at James.

"Impatient aren't we?" he looked down at her ministrations of her own body with a raised eyebrow.

Morrigan gave a moan, which James took as a yes, as he continued to watch Morrigan begin to pleasure herself underneath him. She rose her tank top up, exposing her naval, before sensually bringing her two middle fingers from her right hand into her mouth; sucking on them sensually before bringing them down her body before slipping them underneath her panties to rub against her folds.

James was immensely turned on at the show he was getting. He could hardly control himself when he watched Morrigan begin to thrust her fingers into her pussy eagerly within seconds from running her hands down there. He quickly decided that he would abandon his control as he reached down and pulled Morrigan's panties off, taking note of how soaked they were before he looked at Morrigan who was still fingering herself.

"That's…. _hot._ " James huskily commented as he saw how soaked Morrigan was, judging by how slick her fingers were as well as the small wet spot that was appearing on the bed.

Morrigan gave a moan, not hearing James before she extracted her fingers, "It's not nice to keep a woman waiting, James."

James wasted no time in getting of the bed to strip himself of the offending garments before he positioned himself between Morrigan's legs. "Ready Lo-" Morrigan cut him off by pushing herself up at James, knocking him off balance as she flipped him over, leaving her on top.

"Too slow, _Lieutenant_." Morrigan cooed as she reached for James erection, positioning it at her entrance, and slowly lowering herself onto it. A groan escapes from the couples lips at the feeling of each other, before Morrigan began gyrating her hips in earnest; eager to bring James over the edge quickly.

Morrigan wasn't sure if it was the overwhelming pressure that was on them, due to tomorrow's mission or the desperation from not being able to spend time alone with James for a while, but she could already feel James beginning to pulse slightly, feeling the warm fluids spray inside her. "Backed up are we?" Morrigan smirked down at James, as she continued to slowly move her hips.

"It's been a while, Lola." James groaned with a slightly flushed face at how quickly he finished.

"You don't relieve yourself?" Morrigan asked with an incredulous look.

James gave a shrug in response, he'd hardly had the time and he wasn't exactly alone at night, so to speak, given his shared quarters when some of the other male crew. "Not everyone has their own room at night. Now…" before he finished, he brought his hands to Morrigan's hips and pushed her off him and onto her back before he resettled himself over her. "Warm-up is done. Let's see how you handle round two."

Morrigan startled by how quickly James had turned them over and barely had time to register him re-enter her and began thrusting into her. She knew she would be pleasantly sore in the morning and possibly tired.

* * *

' _I am never drinking again…'_ Morrigan groaned as she regained consciousness, not immediately recognizing where she was. She felt like she was having the worst hangover of her life; which didn't compare to much of anything, since she hardly ever got hammered due to the lack of shore leave since her short lived shore leave at Elysium which turned into what was now called the Skyllian Blitz. As she got her bearings, she realized she shouldn't be surprised since she founder herself under parts of Sovereign. ' _Part of it must have hit me in the head'_ She commented to herself as she brought a hand to her left temple and brought it back to her hand covered in blood. _'Damn…that's going to hurt more in a little bit_ ' she thought dry to herself as she got to work to pushing the pieces of the dead Reaper off of her.

Thankfully the entirety of Sovereign, or rather, the pieces that would be big enough to kill her, missed her and it was only the sizable piece that knocked her cold that caused her to be buried slightly.

"Lieutenant Vega, where's the Commander?" She heard Anderson's voice call out as she sluggishly got to her feet, _'Ow…At least James is alright._ ' She looked in the direction of Anderson voice, seeing an appendage of Sovereign that looked like a tentacle. ' _No problem Morrigan, just remember how to move your body.'_ She thought to herself as she struggled to properly move her body given her disorientation.

When she actually started to climb the broken off piece of Sovereign she quickly found it easy to climb over it; apparently overestimating the size of the Reaper. Within seconds she saw James and Garrus who looked to be shaken up and slightly wounded, but otherwise fine, next to Anderson, Kaidan, and a few Alliance soldiers she didn't know the names of.

"Commander, glad to see you're alright." Anderson called as he along with the other Alliance soldiers and former C-Sec Turian saw Morrigan emerge over the wreckage of Sovereign.

"Got lucky, most of the big pieces missed me." Morrigan called out as she slumped against the wreckage she just climbed over, her small burst of strength leaving her.

"Were you so scared of leaving us you cried blood, Shepard?" Garrus a small tone of amusement lacing his voice.

Morrigan gave a confused glance back before realizing he was referring to the gash that was at her temple and figured it was close enough to her eye that it looked like she had indeed cried tears of blood. "Yeah, I don't know what I would do without my _favorite_ Turian."

Garrus' mandible twitched, which she took as a smile. She could never be sure with Turians but he most commonly did that when he was joking about something.

"Woah Lola, you're going to make a man jealous." James teased, knowing that the teasing, almost bordering flirtatious, banter between Morrigan and Garrus was just for fun.

"As if you could be rid of me that easily James." Morrigan retorted with a smile as a medic came to her side and started cleaning the gash on her temple before applying medi-gel.

"So, Commander…is there a reason why the Mako is in pieces **on** the Citadel?" Anderson inquired, adopting a look of mock sternness.

"James did it, he was the one who drove us through the miniature Mass Relay." Morrigan accused as she pointed her finger at James, whose mouth was agape at the accusation.

"That's a lie, only you ever drive the Mako, and everyone on the Normandy can attest that you're driving is terrible." James retorted, though the smile never left his face.

Anderson wasn't sure what this "miniature" Mass Relay was, but he figured it had to do with something with Ilos and how they were able to immediately reappear on the Citadel. He wasn't exactly upset at the Mako being essentially destroyed, though it could always be fixed. He never was too big of a fan of it to begin with given its clunky controls. So when he led past teams on the grounds, he tried to avoid driving it.

"How's the Council?" Morrigan asked, as the medic finished treating her wounds as best he could, given the limited tools he had.

"Safe and sound, if not just a little shaken up. Good call on saving them. Hopefully our sacrifice will raise our standing with them." Anderson praised. He was deeply saddened by how many lives were lost just to save the Council, some he knew and would have considered friends, but if Humanity could get on the Council it would improve relations as well as the conditions of Humans all over the Galaxy.

Morrigan nodded in agreement. It was a hard decision, to be sure. Hell, even James and Garrus had opted to not save the Council given how much of a pain in the ass they were to them during the time chasing down Saren. But she had to take into consideration of what position Humanity could be given if they saved the Council.

"Come on, let's get you three proper medical treatment at one of the less damage hospitals, then Admiral Hackett wants to speak to you followed by the Council." Anderson stated, as he ushered the trio to get on their feet, Morrigan groaning due to the subtle pain she felt all over, as they all left the wreckage of Council Tower.

* * *

"Finally, I get some decent amount of time for shore leave!" Morrigan exclaimed following her discharge from the hospital after a full day, debriefing from Hackett, and the meeting with the Council which ended with her placing Anderson on the Council. She knew Anderson wouldn't like the position much, given he was a military man much like she was a military woman. They could never just…stop. But given his expertise on making the 'tough' decisions, she figured he would be a much better choice rather than Udina. She thought of him as an ass. **And** she didn't trust him.

"Don't get shore leave much?" Garrus asked as he walked along side of her, having been discharged at around the same time. James was the least injured and had been discharged a few hours earlier and was in the middle of meeting with Admiral Hackett, though he didn't know what for.

"Not really. The last time I had a lengthy amount of shore leave was before Elysium, even then too much shore leave and I go mad." Morrigan answered. "Though I welcome the lengthy shore leave this time. Never thought they'd given us a solid month of shore leave."

"Yeah, but they did say they were going to ship you out to the terminus system for three solid months to hunt remnant Geth forces." Garrus commented. His logic was sound, but still it came as a surprise just as much to him that they Council and Alliance agreed on the amount of shore leave they had.

"Any plans then?" Morrigan asked.

"None for the moment, though I plan on returning to Palaven for a while. Visit family. Sadly I won't be brought back onboard the Normandy following my shore leave." Garrus answered, his tone becoming somber towards the end.

"Yeah, as much as I enjoyed working with you all, the Alliance still wants very few 'aliens' on the ship. Though Liara, Tali, and Wrex all have reasons to leave anyways. Tali wants to complete her pilgrimage and Wrex wants to unite Tuchanka. Liara…she didn't say what she was going to do."

"Well, how about we round up the gang, and celebrate before we all leave? Unless of course you were planning on your own little celebration with Lieutenant Vega." Garrus asked in amusement.

"Sounds like fun, and no. I haven't seen James all day. We haven't made any sort of plans." Morrigan stated in a more monotone voice. She figured James would have got ahold of her by now if not by Omni-Tool then by actually running into her given he knew what she was doing for a portion of the day.

"Purgatory at nineteen hundred?"

"Sure. I'll meet you there." Morrigan replied, waving Garrus off as she stepped foot into an elevator that would take her to the docking bay of the Normandy; wanting to change into more casual wear as she, for whatever reason, wore her armor in her meeting with the Council and Hackett.

Reaching the Normandy, Morrigan yelped in surprise when the doors opened to reveal James on the other side in his BDU pants and a grey Alliance t-shirt. "Woah, didn't mean to scare ya, Commander."

Morrigan gave a few breaths to calm her from her small scare. "It's fine…" she answered before she realized that James didn't call her by her given nickname. "What did I do to get called Commander? We're on shore leave."

"Ah, sorry. I've been in a meeting with Hackett then my former CO, Captain Toni for hours." James apologized as he stepped out of the decontamination room of the Normandy onto the docks.

"What did they need?" Morrigan asked, somewhat worried of what the answer would be.

"I'm being reassigned back under Toni's command." And those were the words Morrigan didn't want to hear. James had quickly become a constant presence in her life and she wasn't sure how well she'd handle being away from him for extended periods of time. She didn't want their relationship to deteriorate due to distance. Apparently James saw her worry as he pulled her in for a tender embrace. "We'll make this work, Lola. You were the one who initially suggested it, remember?" he asked, a grin showing on his face as he asked the last part, though Morrigan couldn't see it given their position.

Morrigan nodded as best she could, given she was pulled into solid muscle. "We're being sent to the Terminus system to hunt down remaining Geth forces, we'll be out there for three months."

"See? That's not too long. I'll be around on the Citadel for a few months anyways. Captain Toni wants me to get reacquainted with the squad," Morrigan winced as she heard that, given that one of them flirted with her and almost tried to force himself on her, "apparently they broke out of their habits with some actual missions followed by the Geth attacking the Citadel."

"That's good, they wouldn't last too long given their attitudes." Morrigan commented, before pulling away from James, "Hey, Garrus wants to invite us for drinks later at Purgatory before he, Liara, Wrex, and Tali leave. The whole Normandy crew is invited. How bout it?" She asked with a grin.

"You're just trying to get me drunk, Lola." James answered, seeing the grin on Morrigan's face. "I like your style."

"Good, then I'll meet you there, I need to change into something more comforting." Morrigan commented, gesturing to her N7 armor.

"Alright, I'll see ya-" James was cut off when Morrigan close the distance between them and kissed him quickly before pulling away, "-later? Oh now that's cheating, Lola!"

Morrigan gave a laugh as she started walking back into the decontamination room of the Normandy as James walked towards her. "All is fair in love and war, James."

"I'll show you fair, Lola." James threatened with a look of desire showing in his eyes, as he walked slowly towards Morrigan, the doors of Normandy closing behind him as the decontamination process started.

Morrigan's back hit the wall as she half hoped the process would end before James reached her. Thankfully James' approached was too slow as the doors opened behind her, almost causing her to fall backwards, she quickly regained balance as she gave a slight skip towards the CIC, "You'll have to catch me, _Lieutenant_."

With that, James broke into a run after Morrigan as he chased her around the CIC which then spread to the rest of the Normandy, half enjoying that Morrigan was letting herself go and enjoying herself.

* * *

 _ **Four Months Later**_

"Hey Vega, save some for the rest of us!" Private Reynolds called out as James took out the last of the training dummies.

James turned and gave a cocky grin towards the Private, whom he surprisingly got along with relatively well nowadays. "Got to keep up, Blondie."

The last three months in James' opinion weren't so bad, but they didn't compare to the month before that as he spent all the time he could with Morrigan, which he counted as amongst the best time of his life. Sure the duo let their training slack slightly, but to him it was a good trade off. The three months after, while he thought weren't so bad, he wished he had some actual action. It was getting tiresome to go over team formations and shooting at dummies, especially after he worked with Shepard for such a long time. He wasn't used to work into cells over four and over.

"You're just trying to look all impressive for when you're girlfriend comes back from her mission." Reynolds retorted with a grin. James did agree with Toni when he was told of his reassignment that Reynolds had fixed his act up. He was now genuinely decent to work with, even approaching Shepard at one point during their shore leave and gave a humble apology for his actions that eventful night. Thinking back on Morrigan, she was due to finish her mission soon, given there wasn't any complications.

"Well, I have to remain the Alpha male somehow." James laughed, before Private Johnson, another whom James had an initial sour opinion which promptly changed in the last few months, came running at him.

"James! You better open your Omni-Tool to the Extranet. It's Shepard!" Johnson called out, his face showing a look of panic which unnerved James.

In confusion, Reynolds walked over to James who shakily brought up his Omni-Tool to check the Extranet, bringing up the headlining news. Reynolds gasping in shock and James' face paling as he read words he never thought would be possible.

" **Breaking News:** **Normandy Destroyed! Commander Shepard Killed in Action!** "

* * *

 **And now onto Mass Effect 2! However, I will likely cover Mass Effect 2 in a single chapter, maybe two. Unlikely. I don't know a whole lot of ideas of how to write James into Mass Effect 2 since like, in the original Canon, he will be stationed on Fehl Prime. He will show up though! So all in all, unless I write post-ME3, I imagine the story lasting about 4-5 more chapters. Just a heads up for you all. Anyways, if you like the story so far, feel free to favorite and leave a review, if you have questions or suggestions leave that in the review or shoot me a PM. I'll be sure to answer it. I'll see you all later!**


	4. Comeback

**I am back and I have another chapter of One Night Changed It All for y'all. Mostly due to the fact I no longer have school to worry about for the time being. Anyways, this Chapter mostly covers to first part to Mass Effect 2. Enjoy!**

 **Edit: I noticed I never really gave a solid description of my version of Shepard. She simply had long, dark brown hair and bright, almost electric, blue eyes. Her height is somewhat tall at about 5'8. Just thought I'd throw that out there if some of you like to imagine her appearance as you read.**

* * *

 _ **One Night Changed It All**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Comeback**

"Commander!" Morrigan stirred at the sound of her title, slowly rousing her from what she thought was a restless sleep. "Commander Shepard!" There the voice was again, this time she recognized as a female.

"Where….am I?" Morrigan croaked out, as if she slept with her mouth open and her throat was completely dried up. She tried to raise herself from what she thought was her bed only to feel inexplicable pain. "Ugh, why am I so sore?" Then it hit her. The memories of _that_ day. The day she was spaced. The day she suffocated in her own suit, watching the Normandy's destruction, but also seeing her escaping crew members.

"You're not finished being healed. There's still some scarring left, but I need you up and moving now!" The female voice rang out again over the rooms intercoms. Morrigan slowly opened her eyes, careful to let them adjust to somewhat bright room. She looked down and much to her discomfort she was wearing would could barely pass as a gown of sorts. Suddenly she felt self-conscious at the idea of being so vulnerable to who knows how many people for who knows how long. "Commander, you're weapons and armor are in a locker at the other side of the room. Grab them and meet me a-" static cut the woman off, but Morrigan needed no more words as she heard gunfire and the soft rumble of explosions.

Morrigan slowly rolled herself off what she recognized as an operating table, carefully putting weight on her feet; stumbling at first when she tried to take her first steps. "How long was I out…?" She asked…though she wasn't sure if the woman on the intercoms would hear her.

"Long enough, now get moving. We do-…. –ch time."

Finally steadying herself, Morrigan walked over to what she assumed was the locker the woman told her about, opening it and she almost smiled at the familiarity of her N7 armor. Though she recognized it looks different than what she remembered. It look almost…new. As if a new model came out. She shook her head before tearing off her operating gown before putting on the body suit followed by clasping her armor into place. ' _it even has less pieces?'_ she thought to herself in wonder. _'Who are these people? How did they even bring me back?_ ' She wondered, clipping the last piece of her armor into place before she grabbed the pistol in the locker. She quickly noticed it was different from her pistol she used before she died. This pistol used thermal clips. They were new and relatively unproven, but were quickly becoming the "go-to" for weapons; last she remembered anyways. Her old pistol used the old fashioned heat sink, that would overheat after squeezing 10 or so rounds off in quick succession. She was going to miss having essentially unlimited ammo if thermal clips were the more common way to make weapons nowadays. However, she quickly noticed a problem.

"There's no thermal clips." She commented dryly, walking towards the exit of the room, the sounds of gunfire becoming increasingly louder.

"There should be some up ahead. A few men didn't make it. Take theirs, they won't be needing them anymore." The voice sounded in her ear this time. However, it almost sounded callous, as if the loss of these people meant nothing to her. That bothered Morrigan. Even with her worst of companions or allies from the past, she at least cared about their wellbeing enough. This woman didn't seem the type.

"How do you know all this? Who are you?" Morrigan asked cautiously, loading a thermal clip into her pistol.

"I'm Miranda Lawson. I'm a-Shit! Get down!" Morrigan quickly took the advice and ducked under a large crate. She quickly learned why, there were a handful of mechs walking by.

' _Also newer models._ ' Morrigan noted to herself, quickly realizing she would be hard pressed to take them down by herself given her still adjusting to living again.

"Wait for my signal, then go down the hall to your right." The voice, Miranda, ordered again, and Morrigan decided she would just listen for the time being. It seemed she had eyes and ears all over the facility. "Go now!"

Morrigan got up out of cover and darted down the hall, testing out her body, quickly noticing how much faster she was running and how less tiring it was. "What did you do to me?" Morrigan asked, annoyed at the idea of being tampered with, despite her gratefulness at being revived.

"I promise, I'll tell you ev-….thing once I-" Static cut Miranda off again, though Morrigan failed to listen towards to end due to increasing gunfire and the sounds of a man grunting somewhat. She carefully paced down the hall, half wishing she had access to her cloak so she could freely poke her head out without fear of being shot at.

Rounding the corner she was a dark skinned man with shaven hair in a rather tight black and white body suit of sorts. She didn't know how to really describe it. He was pinned behind cover being shot at by the mech she saw earlier; though if they were the exact same, she didn't know. "Shepard, over here." The man called, ushering her over.

Morrigan ducked low undercover to prevent being shot at. "Who are you?" Morrigan hissed.

"My name is Jacob Taylor. I guess if Miranda has you up and running around, it must be bad." Jacob sounded, flinching with a round whizzed above his head. "Sorry to cut the interrogation short for you, but let's continue _after_ this, when we're not being shot at."

Morrigan nodded, seeing logic in his request. "Right, what's the situation?"

"Hell if I know. One moment it's peaceful, next moments these mech are running around shoot anything that moves. Shouldn't be too much trouble taking these out, especially with my Biotics." Jacob answered, shooting out of cover and firing a few rounds off his pistol, taking down one of the mechs with a well-placed shot to the head.

Following his lead, Morrigan lifted her head out of cover and took aim, shooting at the handful of mechs at the other end of the room. She hit most of her shots, but none of them were definite kills, so to speak. Jacob however unleashed his Biotics, lifting two mechs into the air, letting them float there, making them easy targets for him and Morrigan to take out. With only two left, Morrigan aimed for the head of one while Jacob brought down the other one. She sighed in relief at the end of the firefight. ' _I miss having my sniper rifle._ ' She lamented. She particularly liked her Reaper, but any sniper would work for her. She didn't mind pistols however. They would work for now.

"Phew, thanks. I guess being dead for two years hasn't made you any less deadly huh?" Jacob joked, catching too late at the shocked expression that showed on Morrigan's face. "Commander?"

"Two…Two years? I've been gone for that long!?" Morrigan asked, her voice raising towards the end. _'Two years…oh god. What have they gone through? James? Mom? Anderson? Joker?'_ She thought in a panic, bringing her hand to her head as she quickly felt a throbbing headache coming on; her breaths becoming increasingly erratic.

"Commander! Take it easy. Deep breaths!" Jacob tried to comfort to hyperventilating woman, as she collapse onto the ground in a heap. "Shit…she's totally lost it." He commented to himself, unsure of what to do with the emotionally broken women before him. That is, before he swore he heard a faint woman's voice in her earpiece. He recognized that voice. Quickly acesseing his Omni-Tool, he traced the signal back to it's source, patching himself through. "Miranda!"

"Jacob! Where's Shepard?" Miranda asked, her voice clearly showing desperation.

"She's here…and she's not here." Jacob answered plainly, not overly wanting to explain his situation.

"What's happened?"

"She uh…broke. I told her she'd been out for two years and she collapsed in a panic."

"Shit…hold on. I'm on my way. Also, be warned. It was Wilson who sabotaged us. Be careful." Miranda's end went silent, indicating she was beginning her trek to his location.

"Hold on Wils-" That's when Miranda ended the connection, "Ah dammit." He cursed to himself, bringing his eyes back to Morrigan who was still in a heap on the ground; her hands still clutching her head as she sobbed slightly. The full effects of being brought back from death after two years of said dead catching up to her. In reality he shouldn't be surprised. He'd hardly imagine anyone could handle such news, let alone experience. He had no one to compare it to, but he could hardly fault Shepard for cracking.

All he could do now was watch over the vulnerable woman as he waited for Miranda and kept on the lookout for Wilson, despite his belief that he wouldn't betray them. As if on que he heard the man's voice. "Jacob!"

Jacob turned to the sound of Wilson's voice, followed by said man walking into the room, with a noticeable gunshot to his leg. "Wilson, what are you doing here?"

"Trying to shut down the mechs."

"You seemed to have sent more to us than shut down." Jacob retorted bitterly. He hardly thought so many mechs being in one place at the same time almost waiting ofr him was a bit convienient, though he would give the balding man the benefit of doubt.

"What? I was trying-" A gunshot rang out followed by a spray of warm blood erputing from Wilson's head as he fell limply to the floor; Miranda revealed to be behind him.

She wore what Jacob could consider a cat suit that held the same colorscheme to his own uniform, though hers left little to the imagination; especially with how much of a few one gets from her sizable breast. "Come on, I don't think this station can last much longer." She ordered as she stepped towards Jacob and helped pull Shepard up, taking note of Shepard's almost catatonic state as the trio made their way to the shuttle Miranda had procured.

* * *

It was a silent few minutes for Morrigan, Jacob, and Miranda in the shuttle; the pilot being completely separated from them as Miranda wanted the privacy should Morrigan come to speaking terms. To her relief, it didn't take too much longer for Morrigan to break the silence.

"Two years….why?"

"You…ah, don't want to know the details. All you need to know is that it took extensive cybernetics and a lot of tissue, organ, and limb regrowth to make you whole again." Miranda answered, to the point.

"Why me?"

"The Illusive Man believes you are the key to saving Humanity. He, like you, believe the Reapers are coming and you are our only shot at defeating them." Jacob answered this time.

Morrigan brought her weary amber eyes up to look at Jacob and Miranda. So many thoughts were swimming through her head, but she desired nothing more than to hightail it back to the Alliance and preferably fall into the arms of James or Anderson. Hell she would even kill to see her own mother at this point. Everything was so out of control.

"The Illusive Man? Who's that? Or rather, who are all of you?"

Jacob and Miranda eyed each other, giving knowing glances that Morrigan would find out sooner or later. Better it be sooner. Jacob spoke up, "What do you know of…Cerberus?"

"Former Alliance Black-Op. Terrorists." Morrigan answered before realization struck her as she recognized the symbol on both Jacob and Miranda's uniforms. Her anger flared at this new piece of information. She had heard about the Akuze incident and during her travels after Saren she had ran into Cerberus a few times, even running into a survivor of the incident, Toombs, he was called, who was being held by the same scientist who were at Akuze. Apparently Cerberus was behind the whole incident, deliberately planting men right over a Thresher Maw nest. It was at that point she found herself vehemently hating Cerberus despite their pro-humanity ideals.

Miranda saw the raging emotions in Morrigan's eyes, seeing the look of realization at who they were. "Some have called us that, but what we stand for is genuine. We only wish to preserve and advance Humanity. For now, we need your help."

"For what?" Morrigan sneered, almost thinking it would be better worth it to space herself rather than be associated with Cerberus.

"Ever since your death. A number of Human colonies have gone missing. The interesting part is that it's _only_ human colonies. No aliens. The Illusive Man wants to figure out who is targeting us and wants them stopped."

"And he believes the Reapers are behind it?" Morrigan spat. She was given a nod from Jacob, "Why hasn't the Alliance done anything?"

"The Alliance has covered up _everything_ about Sovereign and Saren. Hell even the Council have convinced themselves that the Reapers don't exist. Besides, the Alliance is stretched thin as it is." Miranda answered.

Morrigan narrowed her eyes at this piece of information. ' _What has the Alliance so stretched? Last I checked there were very few Geth forces left in Alliance space and I was in the Terminus hunting them._ ' She thought to herself. "Fine, take me to this Illusive Man, I want to know what he knows."

"Hold on, before we do that, I would like to ask you a few questions, to make sure you're one-hundred percent, and your memories are as they-"

"Woah woah Miranda. More test? We've just seen what she went through. I can vouch for her combative abilities, but mentally she's not A-Okay." Jacob interjected.

Miranda's eyes showed annoyance at being interrupted though she couldn't fault what Jacob was saying, given Morrigan's near mental breakdown. She turned a somewhat saddened gaze to Morrigan who was staring emptily towards the floor of the shuttle. ' _Over four billion credits and it had a mental breakdown within 30 minutes of waking up._ '

"I'll…be fine. Ask away." Morrigan mumbled though she didn't bring her eyes up from the ground.

"Okay…records show you grew up in space, moving from starship to starship. Father died young. You enlisted once you came of age. Elysium happened….You remember that?" Jacob asked.

Morrigan shivered at the thought of Elysium. Not something she wanted to remember yet. "Yes…I remember. It was not a good time. Funny, I was on shore leave when it happened. I had to gather a resistance to hold _them_ off…"

Jacob waited a minute, as if expected the Commander to continue, but she didn't. He turned to Miranda. "There, that satisfy you Miranda?"

"Almost, let's try something more recent. Virmire."

Morrigan's gaze became angry as she brought her amber eyes up to look at Miranda. "Don't…" Causing Jacob and Miranda to feel a chill run down their spines at the look she gave them.

"Let's…go back to the Citadel, after the Alliance saved the Destiny Ascension and you killed Saren. What happened next?"

Morrigan's glare softened slightly, though it still held most of it's intensity. "I chose Anderson to be on the Council, I hunted Geth. I died."

It was now evidently clear to Miranda that Morrigan's emotional state was heavily damaged, likely due to her death experience. She was given a psychological profile over Shepard prior to her death. She had expected a somewhat distant woman who didn't talk much but wasn't unkind to those who spoke to her. One who also knew how to have fun when the time called for it. Not some fragile woman who one moment was saddened, and the next, the mere mention of the word 'Virmire' set her off.

The rest of the flight was silent as Morrigan returned her gaze to the floor, not noticing the ominous orange glow showing from the scars on her face. She was quickly debating on dismissing her meeting with The Illusive Man and returning to the Alliance. She just wanted to forget everything and move on with her life as if she didn't die. Oh how she wished that was the case. It hardly ever was. Actually…in her case. It never was…or will it likely ever will be.

* * *

It was nice to see Tali again. It helped alleviate the confusion she so strongly felt. Though her next meeting with The Illusive Man didn't help at all. Granted, he did brighten her mood by bringing Joker back to her along with the brand new Normandy SR-2.

However, it was only a moment's alleviation as she had two important things to do: Stop the Collectors and find James.

"Commander! It's good to see you again!" Karin exclaimed as she saw Morrigan walk in front of her med-bay.

"Chakwas?" Morrigan reeled her head at the sound of the SR-1's doctor. "You're here as well?"

"Where else would I be if not serving with you?" Chakwas retorted with a smile, enveloping Morrigan with a tender hug.

"I could hardly imagine."

"Well, the Alliance were hardly doing anything and when The Illusive Man told me of his plans for you and asked if I would serve on the new Normandy, I just couldn't see myself refusing."

Morrigan smiled at that. At least that would make two people she knew and trusted onboard the Normandy. "Well, we're heading to the Citadel before we'll be putting your skills to good use."

Chakwas nodded as she backed off to the Normandy. "Oh, Commander, if you would be so willing, could you pick me up a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy? It's expensive so you don't have to…"

"I'll keep an eye out for it." Morrigan nodded with a smile before she turned to head to the elevator.

* * *

Within moments of walking into the embassy of the Citadel, namely the office of one Councilor David Anderson, Morrigan found herself throwing her arms around the seasoned Alliance ex-captain. "Anderson, it's damn good to see you again."

Anderson shakily brought his arms around the woman who was basically a daughter to him, "Morrigan, I heard the rumors, but I never thought they'd be true. Still, I'm glad they're right."

"I'm surprised as well, I didn't think it was possible for Cerberus to do what they did," Morrigan commented as she broke off her embrace, "Though they spent billions of credits bringing me back."

There was a shift in Anderson's gaze, almost one of distrust. "So that part of the rumor was true as well? That you're with Cerberus?"

Morrigan's gaze narrowed, her scars flaring a slight orange in response to her growing negative thoughts. "I am _not_ with them! I didn't have a choice in the matter of being brought back to life and I was given solid proof that the Alliance is doing nothing for these disappearances of Human colonies!"

"I'm sorry, Shepard, the Allian-"

"-is stretched thin. Yeah, I know that too. Listen, if don't want to believe me, fine. But I'm using the resources they gave me to take down the Collectors." Morrigan started to rant, forgetting one of the reasons she stopped to see Anderson on the Citadel.

"Calm down Shepard, I believe you. Hackett believes you. Hell, the Council is even willing to reinstate your Spectre status."

Morrigan's anger subsided somewhat. "Then…"

Anderson waved her off as he turned to his com buoy, "I believe you are wanting to know of Lieutenant Vega's whereabouts."

"Yes." Morrigan answered immediately, her anger disappearing completely.

Anderson began to work on contacting James, keeping his back turned to Morrigan as he spoke, "As with many of your crew, after the Normandy's destruction and your…death, I had to drag James out of his drunken stupor and put him, in his case, in N-school. Hell of a soldier he's become, already an N6."

Morrigan felt a smile spread across face at hearing of James' progress as a soldier. "Where is he?"

It was at that moment that Anderson finished bringing up communications. To both his and Morrigan's surprise, an Alliance soldier didn't show up on the image; instead a young girl who looked younger that ten showed up. "Hi!"

Morrigan was stunned, as was Anderson. They expected someone else to answer. Thankfully someone's voice sounded. "Hey April, what have I said about answering these calls when I'm not around?" A familiar voice scolded, though it was mostly playful. It took a moment for big hands land on the little girl's side as they lifted the giggling girl up, before the man walked into view. It was James Vega, though Morrigan swore he was even more muscular with a few scars tracing along his face. "Oh, Councilor Anderson. I'd salute, but…" He gestured to the little girl he bounced in his arms, earning laughs from the girl."

Anderson smiled at the scene in front of him and while Morrigan found the scene adorable, she inwardly frowned at the idea of James having his own kid once she was gone, not registering the age of the child would be wrong. "It's ok Lieutenant, though I'd advise against letting her answer communications from now on."

James gave a nod, as he set the little girl down, "You go back to your mom and dad now. I'll be by when I'm off duty." He turned his attention to his own holo-image, still only seeing Anderson. "Is there some anything you needed sir?"

"Actually, there is a certain someone who has decided to show herself after so long." Anderson vaguely answered, earning a raised eyebrow from the muscular Lieutenant. "Come on over, Commander."

It was a breathtaking moment for James when besides Anderson's image, Morrigan Shepard stepped into view besides him. "L-Lola?!"

Morrigan smiled weakly, trying to fight back a torrent of emotions, "Hey James."

"How is this…?"

"Possible?" Morrigan turned her gaze down a moment as she tried to figure a way to explain herself. "Cerberus rebuilt me…and brought me back." James was unusually quiet for her, though she wasn't sure if it was due to the moment or he had changed since she had last seen him. He had an unusually serious expression written on his face, but showed no anger in his eyes.

"So…you back for good?" Came his question, his face written with a slight smile.

"I have no intentions of leaving, though I do have a mission I must do." Morrigan replied, overjoyed that James had taken the news as well as he had.

"A mission for Cerberus?" James asked carefully, trying to not tone his voice to make the question sound like an accusation.

Morrigan gave a nod, "Yes, but in a sense it could also be counted a mission for the Alliance. The Collectors are working with the Reapers and Cerberus…The Illusive Man has given me the resources to stop them. I don't agree with Cerberus, but we are putting aside our differences to stop them from abducting anymore Human colonies."

"Abducting Human Colonies? What for?"

Anderson spoke up, "We're not sure, but if they're particularly targeting Human colonies, it can't be anything good. Keep an eye out Lieutenant, Shepard has told me they knock out communications before they begin their invasion."

Morrigan whipped her head to face Anderson at the sound of his advice to James, "What? Where is he stationed?"

"I'm on Fehl Prime, guard duty for the colony here." James answered solemnly, now knowing he was a potential target for the Collectors. "Not so bad, the challenge is no action."

Morrigan frowned at the last part, though she could sympathize to some degree. They were soldiers, they didn't take well to standing around. "Be safe, James."

James gave a nod, "I will Lola." He then turned to Anderson, "If it's ok to you sir, I'm going to return to my duties and prepare the squad for a possible Collector attack."

Anderson gave a nod, before ending communications with James. A moment of silence passed between him and Shepard, not a whole lot could be spoken between the two; at least nothing that Anderson could say without getting himself and Shepard in trouble given her allegiances. "I should go, Anderson."

"I understand, Commander. I'm not able to do a whole lot for you right now, given my status, but I'll be here if you should ever feel like talking." He turned to Morrigan's companions who were waiting by the door, noticing the dark skinned man who was waiting, instantly recognizing him. "Corporal Taylor." He stated with authority, noticing the surprise of the man before he continued, "Yes, I know who you are. I understand your trust of the Alliance is minimal, but I ask that you keep her safe."

Jacob gave a salute, mostly in part that Anderson was amongst the few of the Alliance he still held the upmost respect for. "Aye aye, sir. I'll do my best."

"See that you do, we need her now more than ever."

With goodbyes given, Morrigan gestured for her team to follow her back to the Normandy, silently praying that James came out of it alive if the Collectors should attack Fehl Prime.

* * *

"We'll meet you on the Normandy, Commander. Though I recommend haste, we need to get to Omega as soon as possible to recruit Mordin." Miranda suggested, seeing the far-off look in Morrigan's eyes.

"Have you had any food or rest since waking up, Shepard?" Jacob asked, concern lacing his voice. He was already going to do his best to keep Shepard safe, but after Anderson personally requested it, he was going to double his efforts. Morrigan shook her head. Truth be told, it was all _now_ just catching with her. No one else could say they were clinically dead for two years just to be brought back. Beyond that, she didn't recall eating the day she died; she hadn't eaten in over two years.

"I'm going to go grab something to eat real quickly then." Morrigan stated, earning a nod of approval from Jacob before he turned and gestured for Miranda to follow him back to the Normandy. If Morrigan were more honest with her new companions, she would actually have said she just wanted to be alone for the time being. She was hungry, sure, but she could eat something while she mulled over recent events.

Within moments she found herself over the presidium, noticing that there was a fair amount of construction going on. Evidently the Citadel had yet to be full repaired from Sovereign's attack. She hoped there was something good to eat at nowadays. It had been two years and she knew how fast business could go in out.

"Commander Shepard! Halt!" A voice of prominent authority called out, instantly halting Morrigan in her steps. She turned to see three Alliance soldiers walking toward her, one, based off their state of dress was a Rear-Admiral. It was a woman. The other two she couldn't tell but one was an N6 by the small emblem on his armor. As the trio walked closer, Morrigan was easier able to see who the woman was. She had similar brown hair to her own though it showed signs of graying. She also had her same bright blue eyes.

It dawned on Morrigan who it was, "Mom?"

The woman in question gave a warm smile at seeing her long-dead daughter alive after two years. She turned to the two men at her side, "You two are dismissed, I would like to talk to my daughter alone."

"Yes, Admiral Shepard." The N6 soldier saluted along with his companion before they walked off and out of sight.

Hannah turned back to her daughter, a long of nostalgia written on her face. "God, you don't look a day older." She commented as he brought Morrigan in for a warm embrace. At first, it felt awkward as she and Hannah hadn't been on good terms for years, and the last time she was affectionate with her mother was during her early teen years.

"Well, I was technically dead and my body was preserved, so I didn't age." Morrigan returned the embrace, deciding to enjoy the embrace. It was awkward sure, but it was nice to be this close to her mother, even if it was only temporary.

"Yeah, I heard about it. Anderson let me know. He always lets me know about you."

"Well, he was like a father to me growing up and you two were always good friends." Morrigan replied a smile gracing her face. Finally a conversation that didn't immediately turn to an argument.

"So, this is temporary, right?" Hannah asked sternly as she pulled back from Morrigan and stared right into her eyes.

"The arrangement with Cerberus?" Morrigan asked. Hannah nodded in response. "Yes. They brought me back asking my help in stopping the Collectors. It's a good cause; at least this one is. The Alliance isn't doing anything to help. Once I'm done, The Illusive Man and I are parting ways."

"Good. Some of the Brass want to lock you away just on the idea of you being with Cerberus. Hackett has fended them off, saying that your being with them is a undercover mission as a Spectre, but even then, there are some who want to lock you up." Hannah warned. Hell, the moment Morrigan had died, some had slandered her name, even trying to turn her into a pariah, saying that Sovereign's attack was her fault. Thankfully the only real damage was that Morrigan's claim of Reapers was dismissed and nothing more.

"Well, if they feel the need to lock me up. They'll have to wait until I finish dealing with the Collectors…if I survive." Morrigan stated grimly.

"Morrigan, have you had an examination yet?" Hannah asked in worry as she brought her hand up Morrigan's cheek only to have it swiped away.

"Mom, I died and came back to life! I lost two years! Everything is so different now. It's quite clear I'm in no state, mentally, to take let alone lead missions but I have to. No one else will." Morrigan retorted defiantly, glaring heatedly at her mother.

"I know, but if you keep going on, honey, you could break."

Morrigan scoffed slightly. "A small price to pay then. I'm sorry mom, but I must go. I can't afford to let anymore colonist to get abducted." She then dismissed Hannah as she turned to walk back to the Normandy; deciding to forgo eating a bit longer, if not the rest of the night.

Hannah Shepard watched on in worry as she watch her only daughter walk off. They had always argued since Morrigan had expressed her desire to serve in ground deployments, but despite that, Morrigan had never been so dismissive of her. She wasn't sure if it was the trauma of dying and coming back to life or something Cerberus did to her. Either case worried her greatly. She lost her daughter once and didn't want to go through that again. Unfortunately there wasn't anything she could do. Morrigan was her own woman, she could take care of herself. She should at least trust in her ability to come back alive. For now, all she could do was wait and continue serving as Rear-Admiral until Morrigan came back.

* * *

 **So as you can see, Morrigan is mentally unhinged somewhat at coming back to life, hence the change of her personality. This will likely continue until she is in lockup between ME2 and ME3. The deteroriating mental state (though not excessive to madness, but swings in personality, brief hysteria, minor more temporary things) and the start of bad dreams/no sleep will start to show. I like to see it as while Death in itself is just "nothing" as if a dreamless sleep, but the idea of coming back to life, two years having gone by, along with everyone you ever known moving on, thereby causing severe mental stress was appealing to me. The next Chapter will either skip around Mass Effect 2 and finish it up or I will skip to the 'blank' period between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 (where Shepard is locked up). I've yet to decide. Anyways, if you liked the story so far, feel free to follow or leave a review. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to leave that in the review as well or shoot at me in a PM. I'll be sure to answer it. I'll see you all later!**


	5. Reunion

**Hello everyone! Long time no see (and here I said I would update more often during the summer...that fell through). Started up at a new University in a new city and my work load is...strenuous to say the least. Any real free time I have I spend no writting so I apologize for that. This chapter has actually been in this state (the length it's at) for a couple months now actually. I had intended to increase the length to about 8,000 words, but it's been sitting at 4,000 and I didn't want to skip to the start of ME 3. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **One Night Changed It All**_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Reunion**

"Commander, thank you for doing this." Steve Hackett thanked to Morrigan as he boarded the Normandy, much to the extreme discomfort of the crew, though he noticed the lack of some the key members, "Where's the rest of your crew?"

Morrigan turned from the cockpit towards the Admiral, "They left the Normandy as they were only following orders. As per our agreement only I will be charged."

Hackett nodded as a few other Alliance soldiers boarded the ship, "That was the agreement." He turned to his soldiers, "Alright men, as we talked about before…"

The soldiers nodded to the gesture, as they went about their way around the Normandy. Once they were out of sight Morrigan returned her attention to Hackett, "Where's Anderson?"

"He's recruiting someone. Speaking of which, I must join him. Take a few minutes then I'd ask you return to your cabin before we return." Hackett requested giving Morrigan a salute, indicating his respect, despite Morrigan brushing him off before he walked out of the Normandy.

"So you're really going through with this?" Joker asked, seeing Morrigan give a sigh in resignation once Hackett left the ship.

Yeah. What can I say, I'm Alliance at heart I guess." Morrigan responded, trying to keep it lighthearted despite the solemn situation.

"Yeah, well, if you decide you want to go rogue, one button press from me and we're out of here." Joker responded with a grin. For the time being, EDI had decided it would be best to act like a normal VI that only responded to Joker's commands, mostly to prevent the scandal that would befall himself and Shepard if the Alliance found out there was an unshackled AI that was essentially the Normandy.

Morrigan gave a grin. The suggestion mirrored Jack's just a few months prior just after they free Jack from her imprisonment. It was an appealing thought to Morrigan, though she figured she'd be a lousy pirate as she would likely refuse to kill innocents or kill at all if they were 'good' people.

For the time being the Normandy was docked at Omega as it was the place where Morrigan not only got ahold of the Alliance, but also agreed to turn herself in there. The underlying reason was so the members of her crew that didn't want to go back into the Alliance could sneak off and make their own ways back to their respective homes without fear of being apprehended. She was Alliance at heart, but even she could see the downside of such an alignment. There was just some things she couldn't do with the amount of red tape that held her down because of Alliance regulations.

"Well…if I change my mind, you'll be the first to know, Joker." Morrigan replied with a devious smirk on her face. It was nice to know that even in these solemn times she was able to have a little bit of fun every now and then. Though if someone asked her, they were too far in between for her taste. She always liked the idea of her crew having some form of enjoyment in their downtime and not always be worried about the mission if it wasn't of the upmost importance; namely during the time during travel or a day of preparation and someone got done with their duties early. It kept morale up and that's how she liked to keep it.

"So, who do you think Anderson is recruiting?"

A frown showed on Morrigan's face. "I don't know. I'm not sure who it could be if they're on Omega. I doubt it's a bodyguard for me. Like I need someone to keep me in here."

Joker gave a laugh at the reply. "Commander, I think everyone, Hackett and Anderson included, know if you _really_ wanted to, you could bust your way out. I think if it is a bodyguard it's to keep _others_ out rather than you in. We did kind of piss off a lot of people recently."

Morrigan grimaced at the reminder of what she had done. The Reapers were coming and were almost through the Mass Relay and her only choice was to destroy it; effectively destroying the Bahak System as well as making almost 300,000 Batarians lose their lives. It was not a choice made lightly and it weighed heavily on Morrigan's conscious. Hell, she drunk herself under for days at a time after that. It made sense that a bodyguard would be assigned to her to help repel any would-be assassin that wanted her dead in retribution. "That is true…"

* * *

"Ahhh shit!" James yelled as he lost another hand at Poker. ' _Damn Batarians are hard to read_ ' he complained mentally at the two Batarians in front of him, though the Turian to his right also beat his hand. He threw down his hand on the table showing everyone else who had showed their hand before him just how bad this round was for him. _'At this rate, I'm walking out of here broke. I might actually have to get a job soon._ '

"Not a good night tonight for you?" One of the Batarians questioned with what James would assume was a smug look. He could never figure out what they were thinking or what their emotion was. He wasn't sure if it was the eyes or what.

"Maybe, or maybe I'm just not drunk enough." James replied as she gathered the cards to shuffle them.

The Turian to his right spoke up. "Here, drink this. This will give you a kick." He slid over a bottle of alcohol to James which he recognized immediately as Turian Ale. It would make a normal human fall flat on his ass within the first few shots, but James wasn't normal by any means.

" _Gracias_." He thanked as he took a swig, wincing slightly as it burned down his throat. "Alright, I presume you're all still in?" he asked to the three players in front of him. He received a nod as an answer, giving him indication to start dealing. "Let's hope I have better luck this time."

"Yeah right human. You have yet to win a hand at all tonight." The other Batarian commented, his voice equally smug as the one before him. And it was true, James had yet to win a single hand at Poker the entire night. He was quickly losing all the money he had earn from the previous games of yesterday.

"Eh, I'll still take all your credits. Just you wait." James retorted as he looked at his hands, taking a quick glance at his competition for signs of a bad hand. He saw none, but what he did catch his eye was what was on the video screen just next to the bartender. He gave a look at the news instantly disliking what he saw.

 _ **Commander Shepard: Murderer of Batarians! Over 300,000 Batarians killed.**_

"Hey, _pandejo_ turn that off!" James called to the Bartender.

Said bartender turn his head. _'Of course he would be Batarian_ ' James thought angrily before the bartender retorted. "No."

James grumbled as he tried to focus on the game at hand, taking notice of somewhat angry glares of the two Batarian players in front of him. The hand went on for a few minutes, surprisingly not ending as fast as he thought it would, but that wasn't what was on James' mind now. He could no longer concentrate as he only heard the sound of the media slandering Commander Shepard's name; calling her a heartless murderer for the genocide of the Batarian race.

He couldn't take anymore. He threw down his cards and walked up to the bar before grabbing the screen and tearing it off the wall, throwing it on the ground. He would never say he hated Morrigan, though the state of recent events left him somewhat bitter at her, though he knew it wasn't her fault. Despite that, he wouldn't allow someone to talk shit about her.

"The hell man!? You a Shepard-Lover?!" The bartender yelled, upset that someone just destroyed the screen at the showing of one piece of news; especially the news of the woman who made him suddenly become part of an endangered species.

James turned his glare to the bartender, about to give his reply when he heard two other chairs giving a slight screech, indicating two other people got up. More Batarians; namely the two from his Poker game. "I'll cover for it." James waved off before he turned to walk back to his table.

The two Batarians blocked him, "I think we have a Shepard-Lover. Maybe we should teach him a lesson." The bartender gave a nod as a few other Batarians saw the commotion and decided to join in.

James gave one final attempt to calm the situation, though he knew it was a hopeless cause at this point. Batarians were hard to dissuade once they made their mind up. "Come on, let's just go back to playing-" on a split second notice, James ducked his head out of a knife that went for his throat. ' _Okay, bring it on'_ James challenged. It was seven to one and he knew it was unlikely that the Turian would join in to help him.

James turned just as the Bartender tried to hit him from behind, causing him to miss and land a solid blow to the knife wielding Batarian in front of him. James took the opportunity to swipe the knife and lodge it in his throat; leaving it lodged in as he fell dead to the floor. _'One down, six to-'_ James reacted too late as the second Batarian who was playing poker with him similarly pulled out a knife and slashed at his face, just getting James above to left eyebrow. He had no time to wipe the blood that flowed into his eye as he tried to retreat towards the exit of the bar so he wasn't surrounded.

' _Damn. I just had to leave my pistol at my apartment!'_ James thought angrily as he turned around to see the six other Batarians slowly advancing on him. James turned to a table that he was next to, grabbing the first thing he felt his hands run over. "I'm borrowing THIS." He stated, throwing what was apparently a full bottle of alcohol at the end of his sentence, towards the advancing Batarians; nailing one in the head and effectively knocking him out. ' _That's two and the bottle didn't even break!'_

"The fuck man!?. I was going to drink that!" A human male complained drunkenly, stumbling to get out of his chair to stand up to James.

"I think they wanted to drink it more!" James retorted dryly as he thought of a way to defend himself. "If you want it, might want to go get it." To James surprise, the drunken man actually did as James half-heartedly suggested and ran towards the Batarians, tackling one of them; causing them to stumble into another table. That was all it took for a bar fight to breakout and boy did it spread. Thankfully, by the time the remaining Batarians reached him, another one had broken off due to being dragged into the bar fight leaving only three Batarians left.

"Nowhere left to run human." It was the bartender who spoke, the only one James could recognize. The other two looked no different to each other and he wasn't sure if they were of relation or not.

"Not running, _pandejo_. Just picking the battlefield." James retorted as he ran towards the bartender headfirst, ramming into him, picking him up and pinning him to a wall before James went straight to exercising his arm muscles for the first time in a while. Poor Batarian would not look as pretty in the face as he used to; not that James would consider a Batarian attractive at all.

It was to James surprise and further enragement when he felt a sharp blade pierce his left shoulder-blade, causing him to grunt in pain. He had felt worse but this wasn't pleasant by any means. He dropped the now limp bartender and quickly turned around, belying the agility one would assume he would have given his size and grabbed the would-be assailant before throwing him out the nearby window down onto the street; sadly only a single story down. Not enough to kill but it would daze him. There was only one Batarian left focused on him. The rest either knocked out or dragged into the still-growing bar fight.

James reached out and tore the knife out of his shoulder blade, wincing as he felt a sharp pain rush though him. " _Mierda!_ That hurts!" he turned his attention to the remaining Batarian. "One against one, _amigo_. Sure you still want to do this?"

The only answer he got was the Batarian reaching around and pulling out a pistol with his right arm, deciding to just shoot James then and there rather than risk a one-on-one fight with the Muscular man. James quickly brought up his left forearm with great effort to make contact with the Batarians right arm, throwing off his aim enough for the shot that rung out to miss his head by a few inches before he brought the knife in his right hand and shoved it into the Batarian's wrist.

"Aaah! You human bastard!" The Batarian cried out as he dropped the gun, stumbling back as he tried to work up the nerve to pull the knife out of his arm. James in the mean time picked up the pistol and aimed it carefully at the Batarian as he walked away from the wall, preferring not to be cornered. Unbeknownst to him, he had aligned himself perfectly with the same window he had thrown the previous Batarian out of just a minute before.

"Game over." James commented dryly. He had long since lost his sense of humor, especially since _that_ incident. "Told ya we shoul-Oof!"

James was suddenly tackled by another Batarian and was sent out of the window, landing hard with said Batarian on top of him, though the force of the impact affect him less than James as he started wailing on James. "Get….off me!" James grunted, trying to push the Batarian off of him to no affect. It was then desperation got the better of James. "I said get the ***Bang*** FUCK off of me!" James shouted as he shot the Batarian in the head, falling limply off of James as he pushed himself up.

"Long night Lieutenant Vega?" A serious, but somewhat amused voice questioned in the near distance.

James turned his gaze to the voice, only one eye opened due to the cut above his left eyebrow having yet to stop bleeding. It took a moment for James to recognize the figure in front of him, only when he focused his gaze was when he realized. "Anderson."

"I know you've been out of the loop for a little while James, but I expect you to show respect." Anderson chided, he was already upset with James effectively going AWOL but the lack of respect was pushing it.

"Sorry sir. Not having a good day, that's all." James apologized half-heartedly. "Did you need something?"

"I've come to bring you back in." Anderson answered plainly. Straight to the point. That's how he's always been.

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not going back." James retorted, bitterness lacing his voice.

"I have a mission for you. One I think you might want to take. It involves-"

"Forget it."

"-Commander Shepard." Anderson finished.

That caught James' attention. Suddenly he was no longer half beat up and somewhat drunk. "And what kind of mission is it?"

"I have to know if you will accept it or not?" Anderson answered, his facial expression stoic, giving James no read of what he was thinking.

James mulled it over. If it had something to do with Morrigan he would jump for it, but it had been almost two and a half years since they'd actually seen each other face-to-face and he wasn't sure if he could consider themselves 'together' or not. Nonetheless, he had already made up his mind. "Fine, I accept."

"Good. You're a hell of a soldier Vega and I don't want you wasting away on Omega for something that wasn't you're fault. You made the right choice back then." Anderson comforted, knowing full well what James was going through. He had seen many good soldiers go through it. Some never returning from the drink and wasted away.

"Yeah well, it sure didn't feel like it. No amount of preparations prepared us for _that_." James retorted bitterly.

"You did the best you could with the resources you had. Now, if you're done feeling sorry for yourself. You're mission starts now."

"What's the mission?"

Anderson only gestured to the Alliance Kodiak he had arrived in, waiting for James to enter first. Upon entering, James was greeted with Admiral Hackett seated inside. "Lieutenant Vega. Still in one piece, considering all the bar fights you've stirred up around here."

"In my defense sir, I only started two." James retorted without thinking, though there was not bitterness in his tone this time.

Hackett gave a chuckle, though it seemed force but used to hopefully lighten the mood. "Didn't stop you from getting your ass handed to you a few times though."

"How do you-"

"-Know? We never lost track of you Lieutenant. We only let you leave. An event like that, it changes people. Everyone has to deal with it in their own way and we let you deal with it in yours. Only we had to cut it short because time is short." Hackett answered, his small smile turning serious as he turned to Anderson. "Have you filled him in yet?"

"Not yet. I was hoping to explain with you here." Anderson answered as he stepped onto the Kodiak, signaling the pilot to take off.

"I see. Lieutenant you're mission is to be a bodyguard to be frank. Namely to Commander Shepard." Hackett stated bluntly.

James was confused at this. Morrigan was the most badass woman he had ever met and was likely amongst the toughest soldiers ever. She would hardly be in need of a bodyguard. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Admiral. Why would she need a bodyguard? She could easily bust her way out if she wanted to."

Anderson spoke up, "Commander Shepard has turned herself in to the Alliance. We are 'officially' taking her into custody and you will 'officially' be her jailor. In reality it's different than that."

Hackett took the pause in Anderson's explanation to interject. "The Commander has made an entire species her enemies. By destroying the Alpha Relay, Shepard has single handily killed over 300,000 Batarian colonist. There will be a lot of people out for her head. You being her bodyguard is more to keep these threats _away_ from her rather than making sure Shepard doesn't try to escape. There is another reason why we chose you however." Hackett gave a nod to Anderson.

"Shepard is under an immense amount of stress. Not surprising of one who died and came back to life to destroy the collectors then to be responsible for the death of 300,000 colonist. She doesn't show it, but it's weighing heavily on her. During the time she's in custody, she will need a friend. Someone to lean on. She was closest to you before she died and we believe she will benefit from being in your presence again." Anderson explained, seeing the confused look on James' face.

"Wouldn't someone else be a better option? Like someone who has been around her recently? Like Garrus or Alenko?"

"Garrus Vakarian has returned to Palaven and there is currently no way to contact him and Alenko…well, let's just say Shepard would sooner kill him than talk to him." Anderson answered, a slight chuckle towards the end, though it was shaky.

The sound of the engines of the Kodiak grew louder indicating the shuttle had reached its destination. "Looks like we've arrived." Hackett commented as the doors opened up and James was given a full view of the Normandy; though he swore it was bigger than the original SR-1.

The walk with the two Admirals was quiet for the short distance from the Kodiak to the bridge of the Normandy, only then did the silence get broken. "Vega?"

James knew that voice as he turned to see a familiar face in the pilot seat of the Normandy. "Joker."

"You look like shit, Vega." Joker teased, as he looked at the blood still running down James face and the large stain of blood on his back.

"Yeah well, those Batarians decided to go seven to one on me. Totally kicked their asses." James retorted, a grin showing on his face, his mood uplifted at seeing an old friend again.

"Lieutenant, if you would." Anderson gestured to James who was only able to give a nod towards Joker before he followed Anderson to the elevator; hitting the button to deck 1: Shepard's Cabin.

It only took a few seconds to reach Morrigan rooms, but it felt like the longest time in the universe to James. He was both anxious and nervous to see Morrigan again; and if he was completely honest, slightly upset. Though he couldn't dwell on his thoughts as Anderson broke the silence that had once again taken hold of the air between them.

"Wait here."

With that James was left standing outside Morrigan's room as he watched Anderson enter and shut the door behind him.

"Shepard." Anderson stated, starling Morrigan out of her couch, having started to doze off at having nothing to do for the time being. "I have someone for you, he will be your bodyguard for the duration of your trial."

"And I thought you should know Anderson I don't need one."

"I thought you would know, Morrigan that I already know this as well. Besides you will probably like him. You'll need some form of company for the time you're in confinement." Anderson retorted, a smile gracing his face as he saw the look of confusion showing on Morrigan's face. "Come on in Lieutenant."

The door opened and Morrigan was sure her heart skipped a few beats for a moment. She had heard that Fehl Prime was hit and thought James had died along with the rest of the colony. At least, that's what she heard when the news broke out on one of her brief visits to the Citadel. He had changed since she had seen him on Anderson's vid-com. He looked tired, angry, slightly more scarred on his face, but most of all, he was covered in blood and clearly a portion of it was not his; though he still looked the same overall. "J-James?"

James walked slowly into the room, taking in the new features Cerberus had added to her Cabin before he turned his gaze on Morrigan. She hadn't changed a day, minus the weary look that showed on her features. Despite this, he gave a warm smile, "Hey Lola."

In a split second, Morrigan had bounded up from the couch and launched herself into James' arms, securing her arms around his torso, burying her face into the crook of his neck; a slight sob could be heard from her as she refused to let go from the weary Lieutenant.

James shakily wrapped his arms around Morrigan, any form of bitterness he felt towards her before this moment quickly evaporated. How could he ever be angry with her? "It's okay Lola. I'm here."

"I…I thought you were dead." Morrigan shakily mumbled, her voice muffled slightly, tears streaming down her face. "I heard Fehl Prime was hit and I heard there were no known survivors."

James' eyes widened slightly at the news. Whoever had distributed the news of Fehl Prime clearly had not heard it from the right sources or twisted it to their own ends. He along with Treeya, Reynolds from his squad, and a few colonist had made it off Fehl Prime. The rest…not so lucky. "A handful of us made it…though the rest of the colony was taken." James answered somberly.

Anderson could find no reason to interject on the scene before him. He had accurately assumed that the two of them would be better off in each other's presence and that meant that the two of them could start on the road to recovery. Without a word he turned and left Morrigan's room, leaving the couple to catch up.

* * *

 **That concludes this chapter. The bar fight was fun to right but terriblly written now that I look on it a couple months later (x.x). Hope it was okay for you guys. The next chapter (when I get to it) will likely only touch on the time between ME 2 and ME 3 before I jump the story right into ME 3. Anyways, if you liked the story so far, feel free to favorite or leave a review. If you have a question or suggestion you can leave that in the Review as well or shoot me a PM. I'll be sure to answer it! Anyways, until next time.**


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